1
: an act or round of applause
2
: enthusiastic approval
—usually used in plural
received the plaudits of the critics
Did you know?
You earn plaudits for your etymological knowledge if you can connect plaudit to words besides the familiar applaud and applause. A word coined by shortening Latin plaudite, meaning "applaud," plaudit had gained approval status in English by the first years of the 17th century. Latin plaudite is a form of the verb plaudere, meaning "to applaud"; plaudere, in turn, is ancestor to explode, plausible, and the archaic displode (a synonym of explode).
Examples of plaudit in a Sentence
the proud parents bragged that their daughter had received many plaudits for her academic achievements
Recent Examples on the Web
While Leonberg earned plenty of plaudits, Indy’s performance did not go unnoticed.
—
Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2025
Poland has seen its economy exceed $1 trillion in size this year and has repeatedly won Washington’s plaudits for spending heavily on defense, mainly to buy US weaponry.
—Piotr Skolimowski, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2025
Launched in 2018, the agency has generally won plaudits for helping secure election systems around the country, providing early warning of attacks, and helping companies and infrastructure managers bolster their cyberdefenses.
—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 26 Nov. 2025
She's accused them of not paying enough attention to the cost of living and failing to grapple with rising health insurance premiums — drawing rare plaudits from Democrats, who made health care a core part of their message in the government shutdown fight that ended this week.
—Joe Walsh, CBS News, 15 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for plaudit
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Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2025
Poland has seen its economy exceed $1 trillion in size this year and has repeatedly won Washington’s plaudits for spending heavily on defense, mainly to buy US weaponry.
—Piotr Skolimowski, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2025
Launched in 2018, the agency has generally won plaudits for helping secure election systems around the country, providing early warning of attacks, and helping companies and infrastructure managers bolster their cyberdefenses.
—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 26 Nov. 2025
She's accused them of not paying enough attention to the cost of living and failing to grapple with rising health insurance premiums — drawing rare plaudits from Democrats, who made health care a core part of their message in the government shutdown fight that ended this week.
—Joe Walsh, CBS News, 15 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for plaudit
Cite this Entry
“Plaudit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plaudit. Accessed 7 Dec. 2025.
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