(v. t.) To address with expressions of sympathetic pleasure on account of some happy event affecting the person addressed; to wish joy to.
(v. i.) To express of feel sympathetic joy; as, to congratulate with one's country.
Example Sentences:
(1) "I wish he were alive so that I could hear his mellifluous voice at the other end of the phone offering me congratulations in his courtly way."
(2) "Congratulations to the Greek government," newscaster Antonis Alafogiorgos said toward the end of ERT's main TV live broadcast.
(3) It sounds like self-congratulation for disbelieving incorrect forecasts of rain, then proudly stepping into a hailstorm without an umbrella.
(4) 4th Round roundup If the MLS sides who negotiated the 3rd round of the US Open Cup were congratulating themselves on the assumption that normal service would now be resumed, there were a few red faces in Round 4.
(5) Congratulating Mr Rabin and Mr Arafat on having the courage to change, a Clintonite speciality, he went on: 'Above all, let us dedicate ourselves to your region's next generation.
(6) This year though, the annual fest of tit tape, weepy self-congratulation and sheer star power will be remembered for more than a frock faux pas: there was a serious cock-up .
(7) Breivik, for instance, congratulated himself in his manifesto for becoming a “self-financed and self-indoctrinated single individual attack cell”.
(8) Steffen Seibert, the German government spokesman has tweeted: "Gluckwuensch an die EU zum Friedensnobelpreis" - congratulations to the EU for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
(9) • The Department for Education says plans to “change the way the performance tables are calculated” will deter schools from doing this in the future Congratulations to all the students and teachers who picked up their results today – and the best of luck with whatever you hope to do next.
(10) UN Libya envoy Martin Kobler was quick to congratulate the Presidential Council on nominating a new cabinet.
(11) 3.41am GMT David Lengel checks out David Lengel (@LengelDavid) Congratulations to the Boston #RedSox#WorldSeries champions!
(12) University websites wallowed in self-congratulation in the wake of the REF, where experts assessed research in 36 subject areas, looking at quality, the infrastructure that supported it, and its impact on the outside world.
(13) Cameron sought to build bridges by insisting earlier that there would be "no celebrating, no congratulations" if the British public rejects AV.
(14) He congratulated the citizens on defending themselves from the "inyenzi" (cockroaches) and told them to keep up the good work.
(15) 10.13am BST This from Gerard Kelly, editor of the Times Educational Supplement Firstly, we congratulate all schools and pupils who have worked hard and secured fantastic results today.
(16) I congratulate the Observer on the campaign to allow more visiting time for family members, friends and carers on behalf of those with dementia when admitted to hospital (“ Giving a voice to UK’S dementia sufferers and their loved ones ”, last week).
(17) So while the Turkish parliament congratulated itself on a long night’s defence of democracy, many wonder why its members connived in the decline of the rule of law.
(18) Schools in Hampshire had had one of their most successful years academically, with 84% of schools judged good or outstanding, and the authority had been congratulated by the prime minister for its work with schools in neighbouring authorities.
(19) He revealed he had since been sent a letter by Aitken congratulating him on his award.
(20) "More than anything I want to congratulate the players.
Preen
Definition:
(n.) A forked tool used by clothiers in dressing cloth.
(n.) To dress with, or as with, a preen; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers; -- said of birds.
(n.) To trim up, as trees.
Example Sentences:
(1) "Anne Hathaway at least tried to sing and dance and preen along to the goings on, but Franco seemed distant, uninterested and content to keep his Cheshire-cat-meets-smug smile on display throughout."
(2) His running here was unstinting and he doubled his tally with a clinical finish after a first touch too smart for Pogatetz, preening perhaps after giving Boro a sniff of reprieve.
(3) Having started out preening (he tells a former colleague that he lives "the life of Riley"), he ends up howling alone on a small rock, the decision to adorn himself with a beautiful young wife having stolen his stature, robbed him of his dignity.
(4) What's more, his genial stiffness and shy self-awareness give him a kind of awkward dignity compared to the preening smugness of Cruz.
(5) He remembers Obama's incoming cabinet posing for portraits in the White House during the height of the crisis: “what a weird and preening thing for us to do while the world is burning”.
(6) 'Jonathan Saunders, Preen, Berardi, Kane and JW Anderson are on fire' Those are the names you will be raving about now.
(7) Romney's event is being organised by Scott Preen, a London company that specialises in high-profile political fundraising parties.
(8) If the Packham show emphasised a disconnect between the fashion industry's quest for trends and pure red carpet dressing, then the Preen show later in the day underlined how a move to the US can give a British label a healthy dollop of slickness.
(9) At best, these corporate-dominated panels are mostly useless: preening sessions in which chief executives exercise messiah complexes.
(10) Total lipid was extracted from chicken (Gallus domesticus) epidermis, leg scale, claws, feathers and preen glands and analyzed by quantitative thin-layer chromatography.
(11) Comparatively higher activity was observed in the extent of ambulation and rearing at 5 weeks old, rearing and preening at 7 weeks old, and preening and defecation at 11 weeks old in the Sprague-Dawley rats compared with the Wistar rats.
(12) In his preening, know-it-all professional arrogance, Cruise thinks he's bulletproof, but the mouse roars, and the hitman pays (incidentally, when casting a soullessly efficient, emotionally unavailable professional, could there be a more perfect candidate than Cruise?).
(13) The animals showed depressed response of preening on day 2 and 6.
(14) In 1909, the American illustrator Rose O’Neill drew a comic strip about “kewpies” (taken from cupid) – preening babylike creatures with tiny wings and huge heads, which were handed out as carnival prizes and capered around Jell-O ads (to this day, Kewpie Mayonnaise, introduced in 1925, is the top-selling brand in Japan).
(15) Trichobilharzia ocellata cercariae attach readily to the foot skin of their duck host, but poorly to preen-gland contents.
(16) Jane, a journalist in her 40s, thinks so: "I won't stay long in the weights room," she says: "The men are preening themselves.
(17) In the short-term, times spent feeding, drinking and preening decreased.
(18) Daily decrease was observed in ambulation, rearing and preening responses, with maximum decrement on the seventh day of Dimecron intoxication.
(19) From day 9, the preening response exhibited a continuous increasing pattern until the last day of the experiment.
(20) Power is meaningless unless it’s displayed, enacted: hence Vladimir Putin’s bare-chested preening or his sessions of bone-crushing judo .