applaud

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English applauden,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin applaudō (“to clap the hands in approval; to strike upon”),^{[4][5][6][7][3]} formed from ad- (“to”) and plaudō (“to clap”),^[5][4][3][7] a verb of unknown origin.^[5][8] Several dictionaries say it was partly reinforced by Middle French applaudir, earlier aplaudir,^{[9][10][11][12]} but the OED thinks the French verb was apparently not the immediate source, except perhaps in one early Scots use.^[4] Ayto likewise thinks English probably took the word directly from Latin.^[7] The same Latin verb gave plaudit^[7][8] and explode, whose original sense seems to have been to drive a player from the stage by clapping.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To express approval or praise: about 1475, in the participle applaudyng, in a religious poem in which the martyrs cry out "applaudyng thy presence".^[2][5][6] The OED's first record is from about 1540, in Bellenden's Scots translation of Boece, in the sense "to agree with, assent to".^[4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the extended meaning, approval or praise, came into English before the literal one:^[5] the sense of clapping the hands is recorded only from 1598, in Florio's Italian–English dictionary.^[4][5] In the same year Shakespeare used it in Henry IV, Part 1 for expressing approval aloud,^[4] and before 1616 he used it for approving in any way, the sense that became general.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave "to praise by clapping the hand" first and "to praise in general" second, quoting Macbeth: "I would applaud thee to the very echo".^[13] A noun applaud, applause, was used from 1598 to 1636.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – to express approval or praise.^[2][6]
• c. 1540 – to agree with something as worthy of praise (obsolete by 1635).^[4]
• 1595 – applaud to, to give approval to (obsolete).^[4]
• 1598 – to clap the hands in approval.^[4][5]
• 1598 – noun, applause (obsolete by 1636).^[4]
• before 1616 – to approve of, praise.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To show approval by clapping the hands: The crowd applauded as the runners crossed the line.^[14][12][4]
2. To praise or approve of an action, person or thing: We applaud the council's plan to reopen the library.^[14][12][4]

Word family

• applaudable
• applaudably
• applauder
• applaudingly
• unapplauded
• unapplauding
• reapplaud

Related words

• applause
• plaudit
• plausible
• implausible
• explode

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins