Word
congratulate
Phoneticscon·grat·u·late
US/kənˈɡɹætʃəˌɫeɪt/
UK/kənɡɹˈætʃʊlˌeɪt/
Definitions
01to praise someone
v. to tell someone you are happy for them because they have achieved something or something good happened.
v. to express sympathetic pleasure or praise to someone on the occasion of their success or good fortune.
“I called my sister to congratulate her on passing her driving test.”
“The CEO personally congratulated the design team on their innovative approach, which had secured the firm's largest contract to date.”
Usage
Usually takes the preposition 'on' followed by a noun or a gerund.
Pitfall
I congratulated him for his new job.
I congratulated him on his new job.
In English, you congratulate someone 'on' an event or achievement, not 'for' it.
Synonyms
02to feel proud of yourself
v. to feel happy or lucky about a choice you made or a situation you are in.
v. to consider oneself fortunate or to take pride in one's own judgment or luck; used reflexively with 'myself', 'yourself', etc.
“You should congratulate yourself for finishing such a difficult project on time.”
“He congratulated himself on his foresight in booking the flights early, as prices tripled only a week later.”
Usage
Always used with a reflexive pronoun like 'myself', 'himself', or 'themselves'.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“After the announcement of Leavitt's departure, he posted a photo with her and congratulated her on "A job well done!"
He added: "Karoline has been the best teammate.” “It proves to be a story that keeps throwing up moments and characters for which a scriptwriter would congratulate themselves.” Etymology
First attested in 1548; borrowed from Latin congrātulātus, the perfect active participle of Latin grātulor (“to wish joice, rejoice (with); to congratulate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from con- + grātulor, from grātus (“grateful, pleasing, agreeable, beloved”) + -or. By surface analysis, con- + gratulate.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/congratulate