compliment

«compliment» in Mova's school dictionary: something nice you say to praise someone or show you… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a compliment, compliments); verb (compliment, compliments, complimented, complimenting)

meaning for a pupil

1) A compliment is something nice you say to praise someone or show you admire them. tree →

2) To compliment someone is to say something nice about them or what they did. tree →

3) «Compliments» (formal) means good wishes, as in «with our compliments». tree →

sense in the lessons

In manners lessons, giving and accepting compliments politely matters: say «thank you» when someone compliments you, and give honest compliments about effort and kindness, not only looks. In stories, compliments show characters being kind, or sometimes a trickster flattering someone to get something. Phrases: «pay someone a compliment», «take it as a compliment», «fish for compliments», «compliment someone on something».

examples

• She paid me a compliment about my drawing. tree →
• When someone gives you a compliment, say thank you. tree →
• He complimented the cook on the delicious meal. tree →
• "You worked really hard" is a good compliment. tree →
• I'll take that as a compliment! tree →
• The fox flattered the crow with false compliments. tree →
• My teacher complimented me on my neat writing. tree →
• Free drinks with the compliments of the hotel. tree →
• “In a way,” said Smee, “it’s sort of a compliment.” tree →

note

Do not confuse with «complement» (with an e), which means something that goes well with something else or completes it; and in maths, complementary angles add up to 90°. Trick: a compliment says «I like» — both have i. Flattery is false or exaggerated praise used to get something.

In the corpora

• Fair play, real compliments and respect for people who are different from you make others want to be with you.
• A good compliment is specific and true.
• A good compliment is specific and true.
• A compliment is a small gift of words.
• When someone compliments you, say «Thank you» instead of disagreeing.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «compliment» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.