felicitate

adjective fe·lic·i·tate \ fi-ˈli-sə-ˌtāt \

Examples: felicitate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of felicitate

obsolete

: made happy

felicitate was our Word of the Day on 03/05/2012. Hear the podcast!

Origin and Etymology of felicitate

Late Latin felicitatus, past participle of felicitare to make happy, from Latin felicitas

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First Known Use: 1605

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

felicitate

verb

Definition of felicitate

felicitated; felicitating

transitive verb

1 archaic : to make happy

2 a : to consider happy or fortunate

b : to offer congratulations to

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felicitation

play \fi-ˌli-sə-ˈtā-shən\ noun

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felicitator

play \fi-ˈli-sə-ˌtā-tər\ noun

See felicitate defined for kids

Examples of felicitate in a Sentence

the other pianists rushed to felicitate the winner of the piano competition

Did You Know?

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."