🇺🇸
/əˈwɔːrd/
🇺🇸
/əˈwɔːrd/
🇬🇧
/ˈɔːr.də/
🇬🇧
/ˈɔːr.də/
Plural
awards
Past Tense
awarded
Past Participle
awarded
Gerund
awarding
3rd Person
awards
Award is both a noun and a verb: as a noun, it's a prize or honor given for achievement; as a verb, it means to officially give something (like money, a prize, or a contract) after careful consideration. Think of a judge handing out a gold medal at the Olympics — that’s awarding an award!
She received the Nobel Peace Prize, the highest international award for humanitarian work.
The jury awarded the contract to the most experienced bidder after thorough evaluation.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate for his lifelong contributions to education.
The film won three awards at the festival, including Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Courts may award damages to victims of negligence to compensate for their losses.
ward
Comes from Old English 'weard', meaning 'guard', 'protection', or 'watch'. It is related to the Proto-Germanic *wardaz and conveys the idea of oversight, custody, or bestowal under authority. Examples include ward, warden, safeguard, reward, regard, and award itself — where 'a-' functions as an intensifying or directional prefix (akin to 'on' or 'to'), so 'award' originally meant 'to guard toward' or 'to assign under authority'.