Accolade
Festival trophies, surprise state wins with new drum kits, and pandemic-era nursing honors all arrive as this noun: an embrace turned into an award.
Learn This WordMeaning
Award honoring merit.
Memory trick
ACCOLADE hugs (acoler) the winner: an embrace turned into an award.
Examples
The film earned top accolades.
The school band’s surprise state win brought accolades and a new drum kit.
Nurses earned quiet accolades through the pandemic, and louder ones afterward.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Old French acoler "to embrace," the hug that dubbed a knight. Honor delivered as an embrace, now as a trophy.
Usage Notes
Formal praise: win, earn, or receive accolades. Usually plural in this sense; the singular embrace survives only in history books.
Real-life contexts
Use in news: "The film collected top festival accolades."
Use in speeches: "We heap accolades on toppers too cheaply."
Use in SOPs: "State your accolades without apology."
Common Mistakes
Accolade is public honor for merit, not private compliment; and it is pronounced AK-uh-layd, not uh-KOHL-ahd. "Accolades" plural is the everyday form.
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Start LearningQuick Facts
Part of Speech
noun
Difficulty
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