admire
Americanverb (used with object)
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admires,
present (3rd person singular)
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admired,
past participle, past
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admiring
present participle
verb (used without object)
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admires,
present (3rd person singular)
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admired,
past participle, past
-
admiring
present participle
-
to feel or express admiration.
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Dialect. to take pleasure; like or desire.
I would admire to go.
idioms
verb
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to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise
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archaic to wonder at
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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admirernoun
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quasi-admireverb
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preadmireverb (used with object)
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admiringadjective
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unadmiredadjective
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admiringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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admiresimple
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admiressimple
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have admiredperfect
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has admiredperfect
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am admiringprogressive
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are admiringprogressive
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is admiringprogressive
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have been admiringperfect progressive
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has been admiringperfect progressive
Past
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admiredsimple
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had admiredperfect
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was admiringprogressive
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were admiringprogressive
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had been admiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of admire
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin admīrārī, equivalent to ad- ad- + mīrārī (in Medieval Latin mīrāre ) “to wonder at, admire”
Explanation
If you hold someone in high esteem or look up to someone, you admire that person. If you ask four-year-olds who they most admire, they are likely to list their mom, dad, and grandparents — or superheroes and comic book characters. The verb admire also means to look at with wonder and pleasure. She stood on the balcony of her hotel for a long time, simply to admire the view of the ocean and the surf as it crashed against the rocks below. I admire the way she volunteers to help at the school and with other charities because she is willing to give her time to good causes.
Vocabulary lists containing admire
"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
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"A Natural Balance" and "In My Dreams"
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Lyrics from "American Pie" by Don McLean
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We should be hesitant to place halos around the heads of people we admire, just as we shouldn’t totally condemn those with whom we disagree.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The series never asked us to admire chefs simply because they were famous.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Should I admire them greatly, or is there some underlying dynamic that reveals this all to be kind of pathetic?
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
Italian giants Juventus and Serie A champions Inter are interested in Stones - the latter also admire Spence - while Leeds United want to keep the Yorkshire-born defender in the Premier League.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
“I think...that is to say, I admire his talent a great deal. His hair has a pleasant wave to it, to be sure. And have you noticed the gleam of genius in his eyes?”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Kelly said she admires Swift and Kelce for donating to charity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
He admires him, but there is a quiet stubbornness in how he frames his own ambition.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
He admires and respects his dad, he says, but sometimes hearing the same advice from other entrepreneurs hits differently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Buffett admires him, and Cook could bring stature and tech savvy to a company that isn’t a leader in employing technology.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
“You give it to him, he admires it, then he gives it away,” says Pedro Leyva.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
The Dutch -- with their dikes, dams and vast waterworks--have long been admired for their tenacity in the face of flood risks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Daniel Shelton attended an early August campaign rally in Houston and said he admired Paxton’s common sense.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
What we saw instead was a wildly disjointed and confusing mashup of displays that lent nothing to our knowledge of America’s rise to become that admired “shining city upon a hill.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
It said: "Much loved by visitors, the painting reflects the emotion, colour and distinctive character that made Sinnott's work so widely admired."
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Thus in both Arabic and medieval culture experimentation had an uncertain status: it existed, but it was not admired or imitated.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
One can’t help admiring people who value their way of life more than money, but let me give you the view from my farm in Atchison County: Developers, make me an offer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
You know a movie is adrift when you spend the running time admiring the grooming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
And social media brimmed with foreign fans admiring the US way of life.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
My colleague Alex Kirshner wrote about @FreddyLA7, a German X user visiting the U.S. for the tournament whose admiring, travelogue-style posts about Taco Bell, state parks, and other Americana are going viral.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Surrounded by their admiring neighbors, they reenacted the more dramatic moments of the afternoon and speculated on how they might do things differently the next time.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
