accolades

Noun

accolade (plural accolades)

1. An expression of approval; praise.
   • The scientist received the highest accolade in her field for the groundbreaking discovery.

   Synonyms:

   panegyric

2. A special acknowledgment; an award.
   • This film is likely to pick up major accolades.
3. An embrace of greeting or salutation.
   • […] for the tears stood in the old gentleman's eyes, when, having first shaken Edward heartily by the hand in the English fashion, he embraced him a-la-mode Françoise, and kissed him on both sides of the face; while the hardness of his gripe, and the quantity of Scotch snuff which his accolade...1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees...
4. (historical) A salutation marking the conferring of knighthood, consisting of an embrace or a kiss, and a slight blow on the shoulders with the flat of a sword.
   • “Rise, Sir Miles Hendon, Knight,” said the King, gravely—giving the accolade with Hendon’s sword—“rise, and seat thyself. Thy petition is granted. Whilst England remains, and the crown continues, the privilege shall not lapse.”1881, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages, Montreal, Que.: Dawson Brothers, →OCLC
5. A brace used to join two or more staves.
6. (US) A written presidential certificate recognizing service by military personnel or civilians serving the US armed forces who died or were wounded in action between 1917 and 1918, or who died in service between 1941 and 1947, or died of wounds received in Korea between June 27, 1950 and July 27, 1954.

See all 11 meanings of accolade