compliment

1. 1.

   say something to someone that expresses praise

   “He complimented her on her last physics paper”

   Synonymscongratulate

   Broaderpraise
2. 2.

   express respect or esteem for

   Broadergreet

1. 1.

   a remark (or act) expressing praise and admiration

   Broaderpraise

   Narrowertrade-lastflatteryunction

Other forms of compliment

plural

compliments·

past tense

complimented·

present participle

complimenting·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about compliment

What does compliment mean?

compliment means "say something to someone that expresses praise". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in compliment?

compliment has 3 syllables: com-pli-ment. The stress falls on "com". In IPA it is /ˈkɑmpləmɛnt/.

What is another word for compliment?

Close synonyms include congratulate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is compliment a common word?

compliment is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.