acclaim

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ə.ˈkleɪm/
• Rhymes: -eɪm

• Audio (Southern England)

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Etymology 1

• First attested in the early 14th century.
• (to applaud): First attested in the 1630s.
• Borrowed from Latin acclāmō (“raise a cry at; applaud”), formed from ad- + clāmō (“cry out, shout”).

Verb

acclaim (third-person singular simple present acclaims, present participle acclaiming, simple past and past participle acclaimed)

1. (archaic, transitive) To shout; to call out.
2. (transitive) To express great approval (for).

   a highly-acclaimed novel

   a widely-acclaimed article

   • 1911, Saki, The Chronicles of Clovis:

     The design, when finally developed, was a slight disappointment to Monsieur Deplis, who had suspected Icarus of being a fortress taken by Wallenstein in the Thirty Years' War, but he was more than satisfied with the execution of the work, which was acclaimed by all who had the privilege of seeing it as Pincini's masterpiece.

3. (transitive, rare) To salute or praise with great approval; to compliment; to applaud; to welcome enthusiastically.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To claim.
5. (transitive) To declare by acclamations.
   • 1749, [Tobias George Smollett], The Regicide: Or, James the First, of Scotland. A Tragedy. , London: or the benefit of the author, →OCLC, Act V, scene the last, page 79:

     Thou ſhalt be crown'd— / An Iron Crown, intenſely hot, ſhall gird / Thy hoary Temples; while the ſhouting Crowd / Acclaims thee King of Traitors.

6. (Canada, politics) To elect (a politician, etc.) to an office automatically because no other candidates run; elect by acclamation.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

• First attested in 1667.

Noun

acclaim (countable and uncountable, plural acclaims)

1. (poetic) An acclamation; a shout of applause.
2. (obsolete) A claim.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:applause

Translations

Anagrams

• malacic