applause

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See also: Applause

English

An audience applauds.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

applause (usually uncountable, plural applauses)

  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.
    Synonyms: acclaim, acclamation, approbation, approval, commendation, plaudit; see also Thesaurus:applause, Thesaurus:praise
    • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XLVI, in A Tramp Abroad; , Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 535:
      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!
    • 1904 April 30, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC, page 232:
      Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous impulse, we both broke at clapping, as at the well-wrought crisis of a play. [] It was at such moments that for an instant he [Sherlock Holmes] ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause.
    • 1916, Albert Bigelow Paine, chapter 57, in The Boys’ Life of Mark Twain:
      Livy never gets her share of those applauses, but it is because the people do not know. Yet she is entitled to the lion's share.
    • 2024 September 7, David Hytner, “Rice and Grealish start new England era with Nations League victory in Ireland”, in The Guardian:
      Rice’s celebrations upon his goal were controlled, muted. Not so those of Grealish, who lapped up the applause of the England fans behind the goal.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Latin

Pronunciation

Participle

applause

  1. vocative masculine singular of applausus