praiseworthy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of praiseworthy
Explanation
When you do something praiseworthy, you should be congratulated and admired for doing it. Diving into the ocean to save a drowning child is praiseworthy. Use the adjective praiseworthy to describe an action that deserves acclaim or celebration. It's praiseworthy to treat everyone with kindness, and it's also praiseworthy to discover a cure for cancer or learn to speak ten languages. The fifteenth century word comes from a shortening of "worthy of praise," and it was originally hyphenated: praise-worthy. Praise has an Old French root, pretium, "to prize or to praise."
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.
For one thing, his novel is one of the few that looks at colonizing Mars as a legitimate, even praiseworthy, escape plan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Vance, have emphasized social campaigns, such as pressuring employers to fire people who celebrated the death—or, in some cases, who simply questioned whether Kirk was a praiseworthy figure.
From Slate • Oct. 1, 2025
“So I’m trying to infuse confidence in these guys,” Cronin said after sounding a far less praiseworthy tune for most of the season.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2025
“The effort is praiseworthy, but so excessively tardy that it is perfectly useless,” a collective of linguists wrote in the Liberation newspaper on Thursday.
From BBC • Nov. 14, 2024
And I know that everyone will admit it would be a very praiseworthy thing to find in a prince those qualities mentioned above that are held to be good.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Definitions 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.
