unearned praise

/ʌnˈɜːrnd preɪz/

noun phrase

  1. Praise or approval that is not deserved because it is not based on real effort, achievement, or merit.

    B2

    uncountableneutral

    • "She received unearned praise for a project she did not finish."A2
    • "Unearned praise can make people lazy and less honest."B1
    • "The coach avoided giving the team unearned praise after the loss."B1
    • "Critics argued that the celebrity had received unearned praise for work that others had done."C1

Common mistakes

  • unearned praises→unearned praise

    Unearned praise is uncountable; do not use it in the plural.

Collocations

receive unearned praisegive unearned praise

Word family

unearnedpraisepraiseworthy