Felicitate vs Facilitate

Felicitate

To felicitate someone means to congratulate someone, give them respect. The word originated from the Latin word ‘felix’ meaning happy which was translate to late Latin ‘felicitare’ meaning pronounce as happy or fortunate. It is pronounced as fe-li-ci-tate. Examples:

·         The author was felicitated by the cultural committee.

·         She deserves a felicitation by the organization for her continuous support.

·         We will felicitate all the teachers during the teacher’s day programme tomorrow.

Felicitation ceremony: It is a ceremony performed to celebrate the contributions and achievements of a group of people, like students, teachers, or accomplished persons from other fields.

Felicitation speech: A felicitation speech is given to publicly recognize and reward the achievements of an individual or a group of persons.

Facilitate

To facilitate means to make something easier by making some arrangements or actions. The word is pronounced as: fa-ci-li-tate. The origin of this word is from the Latin word ‘facilis’ meaning easy. For example, to facilitate writing, we can buy a table-chair set for a child (it will be easy for the child to write), to facilitate education for the less privileged, we can arrange for funds etc (it will be easy for them pay for their education).

Some examples:

·         This course will facilitate your growth as a technical writer.

·         To facilitate the process, we have organized a meeting with all the sponsors.

·         To facilitate reading, we have expanded the library space in the campus.

·         The examination was facilitated through proper monitoring and detailed planning.

·         To facilitate learning during these tough times, we have started online classes for all ages.

Some synonyms of facilitate are assist, help.

Think of facilitate as a facility provided to ease something, whereas felicitate is to recognize someone’s achievements and congratulate them.

The felicitation ceremony was facilitated by a group of volunteers.