To salute means to raise your hand to your forehead as a sign of respect, the way soldiers greet an officer; as a noun, a salute is that military greeting. Figuratively, it means to praise someone's effort or courage: We salute your courage. A colourful display of lights in the sky is fireworks. The one celebration salute does describe is a ceremonial firing of guns: a 21-gun salute.
salute: will you get the meaning right?
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salute + an officer/the flag; give a salute; salute + someone's courage/work (formal); a 21-gun salute; fireworks / a fireworks display (not a salute)
- The soldiers stood still and saluted as the flag went up.
- I salute everyone who volunteered at the animal shelter this winter: you did an amazing job.
- The ship fired a 21-gun salute to welcome the president.
What changed
First versionOn New Year's Eve, we watched the salute from our balcony.
RevisionOn New Year's Eve, we watched the fireworks from our balcony.
In some languages, the word for a fireworks display looks like salute, so it's easy to borrow it. But the colourful lights in the sky are fireworks, usually plural. Watched the salute sounds to an English speaker like “watched someone give a military salute”.
In some languages a word like salute is a casual hello, but the English salute doesn't work that way: it's a soldier's gesture or a formal tribute to someone's achievements. To greet a friend, just say Hi! or Hey, how's it going?
Your turn
At midnight the sky over the river exploded with colour, and the ___ went on for twenty minutes.
Show the answer
fireworks — The sky over the river was full of colour for twenty minutes, so it's a celebration with fireworks. A salute is a military greeting or a firing of guns, with no colourful lights.
Write about a person whose actions you admire. Say who it is and what exactly they did.
I salute my neighbour, who spent every weekend this winter clearing snow for the elderly people in our building.
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