Meaning & use
congratulations
Last updated
Meanings
interjection
Used to praise someone and show happiness for their success or good fortune.
Grammar: Often followed by 'on' plus the reason: Congratulations on your new job!
Patterns
- Congratulations on something
- Congratulations to someone
Congratulations on passing your exam!
Congratulations to the happy couple!
Congratulations! You did it!
nounplural
Words or expressions of praise for someone's achievement or good luck.
Grammar: Always plural; used with 'my', 'our', etc.: my congratulations to you.
Patterns
- offer one's congratulations
- send congratulations
Please give her my congratulations.
We sent our congratulations to the team.
He received many congratulations on his promotion.
Common combinations
- congratulations on
- Congratulations on your graduation!
- congratulations to
- Congratulations to everyone involved.
- send congratulations
- I sent congratulations to the winners.
- offer one's congratulations
- The mayor offered his congratulations.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- congratulate verb
- To tell someone you are happy about their success.
- congratulatory adjective
- Expressing congratulations, as in a congratulatory message.
Commonly confused: congratulations or congradulations?
congratulations vs congradulations
A common misspelling; the correct spelling is congratulations with 't'.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
The correct preposition is 'on': congratulations on something. The other prepositions do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “congratulations”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.