accolade

UK: /ˈækəleɪd/

US: /ˈækəˌleɪd, -ˌlɑd/

US: (ak′ə lād′, -läd′; ak′ə lād′, -läd′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ac•co•lade /ˈækəˌleɪd, -ˌlɑd/   n. [countable]

1. any award, honor, or notice of praise.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ac•co•lade  (ak′ə lād′, -läd′; ak′ə lād′, -läd′), n. 

1. any award, honor, or laudatory notice:
   The play received accolades from the press.
2. a light touch on the shoulder with the flat side of the sword or formerly by an embrace, done in the ceremony of conferring knighthood.
3. the ceremony itself.
4. Music and Dance a brace joining several staves.
5. Architecture
   • Architecture an archivolt or hood molding having more or less the form of an ogee arch.
   • Architecture a decoration having more or less the form of an ogee arch, cut into a lintel or flat arch.

• French, derivative of a(c)colée embrace (with -ade -ade¹), noun, nominal use of feminine past participle of a(c)coler, Old French verb, verbal derivative of col neck (see collar) with a- a-⁵
• 1615–25

ac′co•lad′ed, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

accolade / ˈækəˌleɪd ˌækəˈleɪd/ noun

1. strong praise or approval; acclaim
2. an award or honour
3. the ceremonial gesture used to confer knighthood, originally an embrace, now a touch on the shoulder with a sword
4. a rare word for brace7

Etymology: 17th Century: via French and Italian from Vulgar Latin accollāre (unattested) to hug; related to Latin collum neck