compliment
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French compliment, itself a borrowing of Italian complimento, which in turn is a borrowing from Spanish cumplimiento, from cumplir (“to comply, complete, do what is proper”). Doublet of complement.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkɑmpləmənt/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒmplɪmənt/
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Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: complement
Noun[edit]
compliment (plural compliments)
- An expression of praise, congratulation, encouragement, or respect.
- c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act I, Scene 2,[1]
- […] I met him
- With customary compliment; when he,
- Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling
- A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and
- So leaves me to consider what is breeding
- That changeth thus his manners.
- 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: T. Longman et al., 1796, Book 4, p. 65,[2]
- […] what honour that,
- but tedious waste of time, to sit and hear
- So many hollow compliments and lies,
- Outlandish flatteries?
- 1782, William Cowper, “Table Talk” in Poems, London: J. Johnson, p. 37,[3]
- Virtue indeed meets many a rhiming friend,
- And many a compliment politely penn’d,
- c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act I, Scene 2,[1]
- (uncountable) Complimentary language; courtesy, flattery.
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 25,[4]
- He told the Captain, He was heartily sorry for his Misfortunes; tho’ in my Opinion that was nothing but a Compliment: For, as I found afterwards, he was more brutish, and dishonest, than most of the other Kings on the Island […]
- 1871–72, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 3
- This accomplished man condescended to think of a young girl, and take the pains to talk to her, not with absurd compliment, but with an appeal to her understanding, and sometimes with instructive correction.
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 25,[4]
- Misspelling of complement.
Synonyms[edit]
- See Thesaurus:praise
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
compliment (third-person singular simple present compliments, present participle complimenting, simple past and past participle complimented)
- (transitive, intransitive) To pay a compliment (to); to express a favorable opinion (of).
- Prior
- Monarchs should their inward soul disguise; […] / Should compliment their foes and shun their friends.
- Prior
- Misspelling of complement.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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See also[edit]
Catalan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From complir. Cf. also Spanish cumplimiento, Latin complementum.
Noun[edit]
compliment m (plural compliments)
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French compliment, from Italian complimento.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
compliment n (plural complimenten, diminutive complimentje n)
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Italian complimento, itself a borrowing from Spanish cumplimiento, from Latin complēmentum. Doublet of complément.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
compliment m (plural compliments)
- compliment (positive comment)
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
- “compliment” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Spanish
- English doublets
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English misspellings
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Talking
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms derived from Italian
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- French terms borrowed from Italian
- French terms derived from Italian
- French terms derived from Spanish
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns