Commend
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Commendation; praise. obsolete
"He had need meane better, then his outward ſhew Can any way ſpeake in his iuſt commend:"
- 2 Compliments; greetings. in-plural, obsolete
"Hearty commends and much endeared love unto you."
- 1 To congratulate or reward. transitive
"The schoolboy was commended for raising the alarm about the burning building."
- 2 express approbation of wordnet
- 3 To praise or acclaim. transitive
"The new law has little to commend it: it even worsens the legal certainty of the nation."
- 4 mention as by way of greeting or to indicate friendship wordnet
- 5 To entrust or commit to the care of someone else. transitive
"After being imprisoned, I had to commend my kids to my mom's safekeeping."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 express a good opinion of wordnet
- 7 To mention by way of courtesy, implying remembrance and goodwill; give regards from transitive
"Commend me to my brother."
- 8 give to in charge wordnet
- 9 To recommend. transitive
"Among the objects of knowledge, two especially […] commend themselves to our contemplation."
- 10 present as worthy of regard, kindness, or confidence wordnet
- 11 To adorn; to set off. dated, transitive
Example
More examples"Rows of houses, each of them different and pleasing with their spacious gardens, are replaced by purely functional blocks of flats which have nothing more to commend them than over-praised 'modern conveniences'."
Etymology
From Middle English commenden, from Old French comender, from Latin commendō (“commend, entrust to, commit, recommend”), from com- + mandō (“to commit, intrust, enjoin”), from manus (“hand”) + dō (“to put”). Doublet of command.
Related phrases
More for "commend"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.