Applause (Latin applaudere, to strike upon, clap) is primarily the expression of approval by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences are usually expected to applaud after a performance, such as a musical concert, speech, or play. In most western countries, audience members clap their hands at random to produce a constant noise; however, it tends to synchronize naturally to a weak degree. As a form of mass nonverbal communication, it is a simple indicator of the average relative opinion of the entire group; the louder and longer the noise, the stronger the sign of approval.
Read more about Applause: History, Protocol and Variations, Slow Handclaps, Slow Handclaps in Film
Famous quotes containing the word applause:
“Ah wretched We, Poets of Earth! but Thou
Wert Living the same Poet which thou’rt Now,
Whilst Angels sing to thee their ayres divine,
And joy in an applause so great as thine.
Equal society with them to hold,
Thou need’st not make new Songs, but say the Old.”
—Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
“When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with such applause in the lecture room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“There is always a certain noise in applause: even in the applause we give ourselves.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)