felicitate

adjective

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fe·lic·i·tate | \ fi-ˈli-sə-ˌtāt

Definition of felicitate

(Entry 1 of 2)

obsolete

: made happy

felicitate

verb

felicitated; felicitating

Definition of felicitate (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 archaic : to make happy

2a : to consider happy or fortunate

b : to offer congratulations to

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Did You Know?

Verb

Felix, a Latin adjective meaning "happy" or "fruitful," is the root of our English words "felicity" and "felicitate." The former is the older of the two; it dates back to the 14th century and refers to the state of being happy or to something that makes people happy. When writing King Lear, William Shakespeare was probably pleased when he thought of the word felicitate as an adjective meaning "made happy," but not everyone took a shine to it and it fell into disuse. However, people were happy to pick up "felicitate" as a verb meaning "to make happy." That meaning is now considered archaic but it was the seed for other meanings of the word. "Felicitate" eventually grew to mean "to consider happy or fortunate" and "to congratulate."