Meaning of praise in English

praise
verb [ T ]
uk
/preɪz/ us
/preɪz/

praise verb [T] (SHOW APPROVAL)

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B2
to express admiration or approval of the achievements or characteristics of a person or thing:
He should be praised for his honesty.
My parents always praised me when I did well at school.
He was highly praised for his research on heart disease.
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
to praise someone or something
  • praiseLawmakers praised the bipartisan deal.
  • congratulateI congratulated him on passing his driving test.
  • complimentI was just complimenting Robert on the wonderful meal he has cooked.
  • commendThe judge commended her for her bravery.
  • pay tribute toHe paid tribute to the firefighters who had saved his daughter's life.
  • flatterI knew he was only flattering me because he wanted to borrow some money.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Praising and applauding
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praise verb [T] (WORSHIP)

to honour, worship, and express admiration for a god:
They sang hymns praising God.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Worshipping a god
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praise
noun [ U ]
uk
/preɪz/ us
/preɪz/

praise noun [U] (APPROVAL)

C1
things that you say that express your admiration and approval of someone or something:
They deserve praise for all their hard work.
His economic policies have won widespread praise for reducing government debt.
Praise from Adrian is (high) praise indeed. (= praise from him is particularly special because he rarely praises anyone.)
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Praising and applauding
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praise noun [U] (GOD)

formal
an expression of respect and worship to a god:
As we give praise to God, let us remember those who are less fortunate than ourselves.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Worshipping a god
See more results »
(Definition of praise from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

praise | American Dictionary

praise
verb [ T ]
us
/preɪz/

praise verb [T] (SHOW APPROVAL)

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to express strong admiration for or approval of a person or something done:
The "Times" praised the mayor’s decision to reappoint the parks commissioner.

praise verb [T] (WORSHIP GOD)

to honor, worship, and express admiration for (God or a god):
Praise God/the Lord.

praise

noun [ U ] us
/preɪz/
His economic policies have won praise from fellow Republicans.
(Definition of praise from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of praise

praise
Thus, partial tolerance becomes the perfect alibi for generalized prejudice against the regional varieties and praise of the standard.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Because of this, they only take up facts and events that honor and praise the persons concerned.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This series is a momentous undertaking, which deserves full recognition and praise, including the volume at hand.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In it, twelve dancers, dressed as twelve princes, danced in imitation of the deities, accompanied by songs in their praise.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Subjects received constant encouragement and praise as well as necessary reminders "to stay alert" during the task.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The first is that their own role in arranging a superb collection, for which they deserve much praise, might go unremarked.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Her image left critics free to praise her: to note virility without suggesting that she fitted the usual authorial mould.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These excursions into political and economic theory received equal doses of praise and condemnation from critics and readers.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Clearly, then, a criticism which aims to praise cannot countenance anything in the poem that does not tally with prevailing notions of conventional morality.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many of the progressive intellectuals did not hesitate to praise the post-revolutionary strategy of communal rural development as a truly viable option for peripheral development.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many of these are humanistic exercises, opportunities to display learning and verbal dexterity in addition to, often rather than, sincere praise.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
After all, is this not the same chorus that had earlier sung the new royal couple's praises?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This book, which now appears in paperback, has already garlanded much praise, and rightly so.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The populace that had gathered for the feast customarily kept a vigil with praises throughout the entire night.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This is another dedicatory chanson, one that praises a nobleman whose heraldic colours are red and gold.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with praise

praise

These are words often used in combination with praise.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

considerable praise
I should start, however, by commenting that the authors deserve considerable praise for their efforts.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
critical praise
His works achieved great success at the exhibition of 1824, where he received critical praise.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
 
faint praise
It is faint praise to say that his book is by far the best on the subject it treats.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with praise
What is the pronunciation of praise?
 
B2,C1

Translations of praise

in Chinese (Traditional)
表示贊成, 讚揚，表揚, 神…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
表示赞成, 赞扬，表扬, 神…
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in Spanish
elogiar, alabar, elogios…
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in Portuguese
elogiar, louvar, adorar…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Ukrainian
in Italian
in Russian
～をほめる, 称賛する, 称賛…
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övmek, methiyeler düzmek, yüceltmek…
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louanges [feminine, plural], éloges [masculine…
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elogiar, lloar, elogi…
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prijzen, loven, lof…
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يَمْدَح, مَديح…
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chválit, velebit, chvála…
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rose, lovprise, ros…
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memuji, mengagungkan, pujian…
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สรรเสริญ, สดุดี, การยกย่อง…
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khen ngợi, thờ phụng, sự tán dương…
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chwalić, pochwała, pochwały…
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memuji, mengucapkan puji-pujian, pujian…
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loben, preisen, das Lob…
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ros [masculine], hyllest [masculine], pris [masculine]…
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칭찬하다, 칭찬, 찬사…
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хвалити, звеличувати, прославляти…
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lodare, lode, elogiare…
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хвалить, восхвалять, прославлять…
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pragmatist
Prague
prairie
prairie dog
praise
praised
praiseworthy
praising
praline

Word of the Day

know-it-all

UK
/ˈnəʊ.ɪt.ɔːl/
US
/ˈnoʊ.ɪt.ɑːl/

a person who thinks that they know much more than other people

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