The phrase "applaud as a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when expressing approval or admiration for someone or something in a specific context, often followed by a description of the role or identity of the person being applauded.
Example: "The audience began to applaud as a sign of their appreciation for the outstanding performance."
Alternatives: "cheer as a" or "commend as a".
Billed as the first full-blown museum exhibit in the US featuring what some decry as devil weed and others applaud as a miracle drug, Altered State: Marijuana in California could not be more timely.
And what feminist "worthy of the name", he asked, would applaud "as a victory the fact that a prostitute goes to the police to denounce the sexual harassment to which she has been subject"?
To a man – and woman – 26,000 people clambered to their feet and began to applaud as a couple of dozen soldiers, sailors and airmen appeared somewhat sheepishly on the pitch and, horribly out of step and waving to the crowd as they went (a part of the proceedings that would have appalled my war-veteran father), began to parade around it.
What feminist, "worthy of the name", would applaud as a victory this evidence that Lille's prostituted women actually felt they had a right to agency in these encounters, despite having sold themselves for as much, maybe, as €120 (as opposed to an agreed €200, any complaints to Lille's chief of police, among the accused)?
While in the U.S. this week, Suu Kyi is being applauded as a Nobel Peace Laureate and champion of the oppressed, her authority, mostly moral and political, but non-military, remains fragile at best.
"They had another Darren Stevens century to applaud, as well as a quick-fire 82 from Brendan Nash and a patient, mature half-century from Daniel Bell-Drummond, who showed maturity beyond his years.
At the end, his audience rose to applaud as for a piano virtuoso.As an interpreter of the Middle East, Mr Halliday's talents overflowed.
That is to be applauded as a big achievement.
The speech was widely applauded as a proclamation of British grievances.
During the 1990s, Mexico was applauded as a paragon of free-market virtue.
On May 17th, a black-tie audience at the Metropolitan Opera House applauded as a tall, jovial-looking billionaire took the stage.
