pay (one) a compliment

To compliment one; to give one a piece of praise. It took me a little while to realize that he was paying me a compliment. It isn't often she pays her employees compliments, so you should really feel proud.

pay (someone or something) a compliment

To give someone praise, especially for a specific accomplishment or trait. He paid the chef a compliment for the delicious soufflé. I don't really like it when people pay me a compliment for my appearance—I never know how to react.

pay a compliment

Express praise or commendation to someone, as in Meredith wanted to pay Christopher a compliment so she told him she liked his new haircut . This expression uses pay in the sense of "give something that is due." [c. 1700]

See also: compliment, pay

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

See also:

References in periodicals archive

To pay a compliment that works, Chris' advice is simple: "When you give a compliment, be specific - if you want to shape people's performance, for example, tell them exactly what they did well in that meeting - it should be, 'that presentation was excellent', 'it was clear', you did this or that well."

Complimentary Therapy; Saying something nice about someone is an easy way to make their day, so why are we so bad at giving and receiving praise? Kirstie McCrum asks a psychologist about ways to make someone smile with a few simple words, and chats with three women about how good - or bad - they are at giving and receiving a compliment

All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.