Compliment Meaning
/ˈkɑmpləmənt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn expression of praise, congratulation, or respect.
nounComplimentary language; courtesy, flattery.
Sentence Examples
The shy boy blushed at her compliment.
He paid me the compliment of listening.
They paid a high compliment to the speaker.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
She blushed and smiled when he gave her a nice ____ about her dress.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I must truly ____ you on your surprisingly excellent cooking skills.
Word Origin & History
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”) + -miento or Latin complēmentum. Doublet of complement. Displaced Old English ġeswǣsnes.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] 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."
— c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
"[...] what honour that,
but tedious waste of time, to sit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries?"
— 1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 65:
"Virtue indeed meets many a rhiming friend,
And many a compliment politely penn’d,"
— 1782, William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: J. Johnson, page 37:
"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 […]"
— 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 25:
"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."
— 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 48:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She blushed and smiled when he gave her a nice ____ about her dress.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I must truly ____ you on your surprisingly excellent cooking skills.