1Give (someone) one's good wishes when something special or pleasant has happened to them.

1. 1.1 Praise (someone) for an achievement.
   the operators are to be congratulated for the service that they provide

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The children and their parents are to be congratulated for their efforts in making the event such a success.
   • The club congratulates all teams who have made the finals and wishes them all every success.
   • And I look forward to congratulating him on a pretty darn good victory.
   • Women at the grass roots must be congratulated for doing a very courageous job.
   • He wished that just once someone might congratulate him on a job well done.
   • I therefore wish to congratulate this brave man publicly for standing up for what he believed in.
   • I am, however, sincerely delighted to congratulate you on the achievement of a personal goal.
   • No doubt his constituents are proud of his achievement and congratulate him on his advancement.
   • She was in hospital in July having her first session of chemotherapy when flowers and cards flooded in congratulating her on publishing what has been the most remarkable debut of the year.
   • He and his staff are to be congratulated for their workmanship and their commitment to this scheme.
   • Our Prime Minister must be congratulated for not making the event a political outing.
   • He has spent over fifty years at the top in a very demanding profession and deserves to be congratulated for it.
   • The club should be congratulated for this tremendous example of internationalism.
   • We congratulate her on her success and wish her further advancement, if that is her desire.
   • The players and management must be congratulated for this amazing achievement.
   • People were coming up and wishing me Happy Birthday, and congratulating me on my performance.
   • Students with exceptional attendance records have been congratulated for their dedication to school.
   • So all in all it was a great week for Margaret and we congratulate her on her achievements.
   • He congratulated the team and management on their successes and wished them all the best for the coming season.
   • I would like to congratulate David on what he has achieved and I wish him all the best next week.

   Synonyms

   praise, commend, applaud, salute, honour, eulogize, extol, acclaim, sing the praises of, heap praise on, pay tribute to, speak highly/well of, flatter, compliment, say nice things about, express admiration for, wax lyrical about, make much of, pat on the back, take one's hat off to, throw bouquets at

   informal crack someone/something up

   British informal big someone/something up

   North American informal ballyhoo

   dated cry someone/something up

   archaic emblazon

   rare laud, panegyrize, felicitate
2. 1.2congratulate oneself Feel pride or satisfaction.
   she congratulated herself on her powers of deduction

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Rather than congratulating themselves, Labor's national office should definitely hold an independent inquiry into their failure of a federal leader and Labor's disastrous, inept and disgraceful election campaign.
   • When European journalists and intellectuals aren't relishing the latest windy jeremiad by one of these cranks, they're busy congratulating themselves for their appreciation of nuance.
   • Young farmers have been congratulating themselves on an ‘excellent year of competition’ at their annual meeting.
   • The major supermarkets have been congratulating themselves in delivering a Christmas bonus for millions of motorists by cutting fuel to below 80p a litre.
   • Having decided to introduce a gay character (whilst no doubt congratulating themselves for their moral fortitude) the scriptwriters show no inclination to explore the issue further.
   • He didn't do it but sure took pride in congratulating himself for triumphing over the impulse.
   • On a day when British officials were congratulating themselves on the team's best showing in an Olympic Games for 76 years, a record of an unenviable nature was later set on the track.
   • Perhaps, they can stop congratulating themselves on how well they have done in covering this story and start asking some hard questions.
   • The fought to keep big corporations and fast food chains out of the town, but amidst congratulating themselves, fret that their paradise is too popular.
   • The cycling authorities were still congratulating themselves on being ahead in the war against the cheats when the Tour de France was shown to be nothing more than a travelling medicine show.
   • It makes me seethe with anger, the image of these people smugly congratulating themselves for their self-righteousness while hurting so many good and decent people.
   • So this weekend, we will be sitting on our living-room floor (we can't afford the rest of the furniture yet) congratulating ourselves; probably we'll unpack a few boxes and open a few cans as well.
   • It was whilst quietly congratulating ourselves on this turn of events over the weekend that it dawned on me that we now have considerably more time on our hands, time that I squandered yesterday by cleaning the house.
   • In fact, journalists had started congratulating themselves that they did better in the election this year - I've heard a lot of positive views from journalists.
   • In fact, the idea of listening to a bunch of pompous professionals congratulating themselves on their own erudition seems marginally less appealing than poking myself in the eye with a red-hot skewer.
   • Within the divine plan, they see their role as making this gift available to others, rather than congratulating themselves on possessing it.
   • After that, the stories came out in a rush, many of them editorials by journalists congratulating themselves for not running the story in the first place.
   • You go on, year after year, congratulating yourself that some piece of domestic equipment is doing well, lasting so long.
   • Leftists spend so much of their time congratulating themselves on being smarter and more moral than everybody else that they never stop and actually ask themselves if maybe they've got something wrong.
   • Instead of feeling like they've failed, smokers should be congratulating themselves on taking the first steps towards giving up for good.

   Synonyms

   take pride in, be/feel proud of, feel proud about, be proud of oneself for, flatter oneself on, preen oneself on, pat oneself on the back for, give oneself a pat on the back for

   find/take satisfaction in, feel satisfaction at, take delight in, find/take pleasure in, glory in, bask in, delight in, exult in, plume oneself on

   archaic pique oneself on/in