felicitate

Felicitate is a verb meaning to express or manifest joy, approval, or good wishes toward someone, typically by offering congratulations or compliments. In modern usage it most commonly means to congratulate someone on a special occasion or achievement, as in sentences like “The president felicitated the team on their victory.” The sense of spreading happiness can also apply, but in practice the word is often formal and ceremonial.

Etymology: The word derives from Latin felicitas “happiness” (from felix “happy”). It was borrowed into English via Old French feliciter and early modern Latin forms, and it has remained a relatively formal synonym of “congratulate.”

Usage notes: Felicitate is a transitive verb and typically takes an object person and a on-phrase or for-phrase, such as “to felicitate someone on their anniversary” or “to felicitate the winner for her achievement.” It can appear in both British and American formal prose but is less common in everyday speech, where “congratulate” is preferred. The noun form felicitation refers to the act of congratulating or to a formal expression of congratulations (e.g., “a felicitation message”).

Related terms: felicity means happiness or a pleasing quality; felicitate is related to felicitation and felicitious.

Examples: “The ambassador felicitated the delegation on its successful talks.” “We felicitated him on his retirement.”