felicitation
Americannoun
-
felicitations
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of felicitation
First recorded in 1700–10; felicitate + -ion
Explanation
A felicitation is when you congratulate someone. Your best friend might express his felicitation on your birthday by giving you flowers. You'll almost always see the noun felicitation in its plural form, felicitations. In fact, when your neighbors announce their upcoming marriage, you can say, "Felicitations!" just as you might say, "Congratulations!" Either way, you're expressing your good wishes. Felicitation comes from the verb felicitate, which means "congratulate," and has a Latin root, felicitas, "happiness," from felix, "happy or fortunate."
Vocabulary lists containing felicitation
The Age of Innocence
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The Inheritance Games
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Mara, Daughter of the Nile
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Geetha P was travelling from the southern state of Kerala to national capital Delhi to attend a felicitation function for winners of the Florence Nightingale award for nurses.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2022
Back in the last century only the shoe fabricator or the shoe designer would have been eligible for that kind of felicitation.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2012
After posing indoors for other lensmen, Churchill heard a game try at felicitation from one.
From Time Magazine Archive
Her book, Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, was published in 1773, brought a letter of felicitation from George Washington, went through 15 editions.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had looked for some show of good-feeling, some word of sympathy, some felicitation from the young man, who, after all, was his blood relation.
From Chippinge Borough by Stanley J. Weyman
Barbados snipped its link to the monarchy and became fully independent last year, to felicitations from Elizabeth and Charles.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 25, 2022
Before hanging up, he stopped himself from uttering the felicitations typical in Russia this time of year.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2022
India offered no felicitations to Beijing on the centenary celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party last week which Indian media described as another sign of its unhappiness.
From Reuters ● Jul. 6, 2021
In this opening episode of the 10th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, belated felicitations join soft scones, wobbly tables and human bowls borrowed by dogs as the latest prompts for Larry David’s raging misanthropy.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 30, 2020
"These are the most lugubrious nuptial felicitations that ever were offered to a bridegroom, I should fancy!" thought Algernon.
From A Charming Fellow, Volume II (of 3) by Frances Eleanor Trollope
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
