Applause

//əˈplɔz// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of applauding; approbation and praise publicly expressed by the clapping of hands, stamping or tapping of the feet, acclamation, huzzas, or other means; marked commendation. uncountable, usually

    "A few days before, the adulations and applauses of a nation were sounding in her [Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma's] ears, and now she was come to this!"

  2. 2
    a demonstration of approval by clapping the hands together wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To applaud. obsolete

    "But (which had ſcarrefide our wounds, if wounded, with the Balme / Of her ſweete Preſence, ſo applaus’d as in Sea-ſtormes a Calme) / Her royall-ſelfe, Elizabeth our Soueraigne lawfull Queene, / In magnanimious Maieſtie amidſt her Troupes was ſeene."

Synonyms

All synonyms
acclaimclappingpraiseacclaimacclamationlaudits

Example

More examples

"We gave the performer a round of applause."

Etymology

From Latin applausus, from applaudō (“I strike against, I applaud”) (whence applaud).

Related phrases

applause-worthyround of applauseself-applause

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.