kudos

K5U1D2O1S1
Australia, UK/ˈk(j)uː.dɒs/US/ˈkuˌdoʊz/US/ˈkuˌdoʊs/India/ˈkuː.ɖoːs/

noun

Praise; accolades.

“I gave Chelsea much kudos for the birth of her first daughter.”

Less commonScrabble 10

Meanings

kudos1

nounkudos (uncountable)
  1. uncountablePraise; accolades.

    I gave Chelsea much kudos for the birth of her first daughter.

    5 more examples

    The talented, young playwright received much kudos for his new drama.

    Well, I will tell you this. Use your warrant: Arrest Mr. Inglethorp. But it will bring you no kudos—the case against him will be dismissed at once!

    1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

    So while recording or sampling a Charlie Manson track […] makes for shock rock kudos aplenty, a devotion to Hubbard is kryptonite for credibility.

    2006 March 25, Jonathan Leggett, “Cult musicians”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2025

    Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Pat, I gotta tell you, you did a lot of things right with this lunch―kudos. You got back quickly, you showed initiative, and, best of all, you left plenty of room for improvement.

    2011 Allen Gregory, "1 Night in Gottlieb" (season 1, episode 2)

    And… and to that… to that Turkish horse, I say this, “You should not step on people’s balls, but, in this solitary instance, kudos, horse, kudos.”

    2014, Tim Carvell [et al.], “The Lottery”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 24, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO

    Synonyms: props

  2. uncountableCredit for one's achievements.

    Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

    1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
interjection
  1. An interjection indicating praise or approval or as an acknowledgement of a laudable achievement.

    Synonyms: bravissimo, bravo, bully, cock on, congrats, congratulations, encore, fair fucks

verbkudos (third-person singular simple present kudoses, present participle kudosing, simple past and past participle kudosed)

present singular third person kudoses · participle present kudosing · participle past kudosed · past kudosed

  1. informalTo give praise or accolades.

    You know and I know that Dr. Tinsley likes a bit of kudosing every now and then. I think it would be well if we seriously considered some kind of honorable mention for him at the Conference.

    2018, Margaret Edds, We Face the Dawn
noun
  1. nonstandardpluralproscribedsometimesplural of kudo
verb
  1. indicativeinformalnonstandardpresentproscribedsingularsometimesthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of kudo

Kudos2

proper noun
  1. pluralplural of Kudo

Synonyms & antonyms

nounPraise; accolades.

Similar

interjectionAn interjection indicating praise or approval or as an acknowledgement of a laudable achievement.

More synonyms by meaning

nounan expression of approval and commendation

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκῦδος“praise, renown”
  2. Englishkudos

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos, “praise, renown”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian слава
  • слава (slava)credit for one's achievements
Catalan elogi, reconeixement
  • elogipraise, accolades
  • reconeixementcredit for one's achievements
Chinese Cantonese 名譽 /名誉, 叻
  • 名譽 /名誉 (ming⁴ jyu⁶)praise, accolades
  • 叻praise, accolades
Chinese Mandarin 榮譽 /荣誉, 聲望 /声望
  • 榮譽 /荣誉 (róngyù)praise, accolades
  • 聲望 /声望 (shēngwàng)praise, accolades
  • 名譽 /名誉 (míngyù)praise, accolades
Czech uznání, pochvala
  • uznánípraise, accolades
  • pochvalapraise, accolades
Danish hæder, ros
  • hæderpraise, accolades
  • rospraise, accolades
  • cadeaupraise, accolades
Dutch krediet, lof
  • kredietpraise, accolades
  • lofpraise, accolades
Finnish maine, kiitos
  • mainepraise, accolades
  • kiitospraise, accolades
  • kehutpraise, accolades
  • ylistyspraise, accolades
  • kunniacredit for one's achievements
French louange, gloire
  • louangepraise, accolades
  • gloirepraise, accolades
  • félicitationspraise, accolades
German Lob, Beifall
  • Lobpraise, accolades
  • Beifallpraise, accolades
  • Applauspraise, accolades
  • Ruhmcredit for one's achievements
  • Ehrecredit for one's achievements
  • Ansehencredit for one's achievements
  • Renommeecredit for one's achievements
  • Prestigecredit for one's achievements
Greek δόξα, φήμη
  • δόξα (dóxa)praise, accolades
  • φήμη (fími)praise, accolades
  • τιμή (timí)praise, accolades
  • κύρος (kýros)praise, accolades
  • έπαινος (épainos)praise, accolades
Hungarian hírnév
  • hírnévpraise, accolades
Icelandic frægð, heiður
  • frægðpraise, accolades
  • heiðurpraise, accolades
  • upphefðpraise, accolades
Japanese 称賛, 栄光
  • 称賛 (shōsan)praise, accolades
  • 栄光 (eikō)praise, accolades
  • 名声 (meisei)praise, accolades
  • 名誉 (meiyo)praise, accolades
Latin laus
  • lauspraise, accolades
Norwegian Bokmål heder, ros
  • hederpraise, accolades
  • rospraise, accolades
  • kudospraise, accolades
Polish chwała
  • chwałapraise, accolades
Portuguese elogio, louvor
  • elogiopraise, accolades
  • louvorpraise, accolades
  • muito bemTranslations
Romanian laudă
  • laudăpraise, accolades
Russian сла́ва, хвала́
  • сла́ва (sláva)praise, accolades
  • хвала́ (xvalá)praise, accolades
  • похвала́ (poxvalá)praise, accolades
  • одобре́ние (odobrénije)praise, accolades
  • браво (bravo)Translations
  • красавчик (krasavčik)Translations
Spanish elogio, prestigio
  • elogiopraise, accolades
  • prestigiocredit for one's achievements
  • renombrecredit for one's achievements
  • gloriacredit for one's achievements
  • felicitacionesTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

kudos. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kudos

MLA

“kudos.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kudos. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kudos,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kudos.

Source: kudos on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.