Meanings
verbcongratulate (third-person singular simple present congratulates, present participle congratulating, simple past and past participle congratulated)
present singular third person congratulates · participle present congratulating · participle past congratulated · past congratulated · alternative archaic gratulate
- To express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
We must congratulate Dave and Lisa on getting married.
2 more examples
Remind me to congratulate Dave and Lisa on their wedding.
Ronaldo Sr., who is the record goalscorer in men’s international soccer with 136 goals for Portugal, congratulated his son on his Instagram Stories by posting a picture of his name on the squad list, saying: “Proud of you, son!”
2025 May 7, Ben Morse, “‘Proud of you’: Cristiano Ronaldo’s eldest son earns first call-up for Portugal Under-15 national team”, in CNNSynonyms: felicitate, compliment
- reflexiveTo consider oneself fortunate in some matter.
I congratulated myself on the success of my plan.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincongrātulor“to wish joy, rejoice (with); to congratulate”
- Latincongrātulātus
- Englishcongratulate
First attested in 1548; borrowed from Latin congrātulātus, the perfect active participle of Latin congrātulor (“to wish joy, rejoice (with); to congratulate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from con- + grātulor, from grātus (“grateful, pleasing, agreeable, beloved”) + -or. By surface analysis, con- + gratulate.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic هَنَّأَ, يُهَنِّئُ
- هَنَّأَ (hannaʔa)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- يُهَنِّئُ (yuhanniʔu)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Bulgarian поздравя́вам, честитя́
- поздравя́вам (pozdravjávam)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- честитя́ (čestitjá)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Catalan felicitar, congratular
- felicitarto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- congratularto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Chinese Mandarin 祝賀 /祝贺, 道喜
- 祝賀 /祝贺 (zhùhè)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- 道喜 (dàoxǐ)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Czech blahopřát, gratulovat
- blahopřátto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- gratulovatto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Danish gratulere
- gratulereto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Dutch feliciteren, gelukwensen
- feliciterento express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- gelukwensento express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Esperanto gratuli
- gratulito express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Estonian õnnitlema
- õnnitlemato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Finnish onnitella, toivottaa onnea
- onnitellato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- toivottaa onneato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
French féliciter
- féliciterto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
German gratulieren, beglückwünschen
- gratulierento express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- beglückwünschento express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Greek συγχαίρω
- συγχαίρω (synchaíro)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Hebrew ברך, פִרְגֵּן
- ברך (berákh)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- פִרְגֵּן (firgén)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Hindi बधाई देना
- बधाई देना (badhāī denā)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Hungarian gratulál
- gratulálto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Japanese 祝う
- 祝う (iwau)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Korean 축하하다
- 축하하다 (chukhahada)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Latin grātulor, congrātulor
- grātulorto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- congrātulorto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Latvian apsveikt
- apsveiktto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Lithuanian sveikinti, pasveikinti
- sveikintito express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- pasveikintito express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Malay tahniah
- tahniahto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Norwegian Bokmål gratulere
- gratulereto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Persian تبریک گفتن
- تبریک گفتن (tabrik goftan)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Polish gratulować, pogratulować
- gratulowaćto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- pogratulowaćto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- winszowaćto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- powinszowaćto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Portuguese parabenizar, congratular
- parabenizarto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- congratularto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Romanian ferici, ura
- fericito express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- urato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- felicitato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Russian поздравля́ть, поздра́вить
- поздравля́ть (pozdravljátʹ)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- поздра́вить (pozdrávitʹ)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Slovak blahoželať, gratulovať
- blahoželaťto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- gratulovaťto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Spanish felicitar, congratular
- felicitarto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- congratularto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Swedish gratulera, lyckönska
- gratulerato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- lyckönskato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- grattato express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Tagalog balangawan, magbalangaw
- balangawanto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- magbalangawto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Thai ฉลอง
- ฉลอง (chà-lŏng)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Turkish tebrik etmek, kutlamak
- tebrik etmekto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- kutlamakto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Ukrainian поздоровля́ти, поздоро́вити
- поздоровля́ти (pozdorovljáty)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- поздоро́вити (pozdoróvyty)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- віншува́ти (vinšuváty)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- повіншува́ти (povinšuváty)to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Vietnamese chúc mừng
- chúc mừngto express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
Cite this entry
APA
congratulate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/congratulate
MLA
“congratulate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/congratulate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “congratulate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/congratulate.
Source: congratulate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.