appreciate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to be grateful or thankful for.
They appreciated his thoughtfulness.
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to value or regard highly; place a high estimate on.
to appreciate good wine.
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to be fully conscious of; be aware of; detect.
to appreciate the dangers of a situation.
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to raise in value.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to feel thankful or grateful for
to appreciate a favour
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(may take a clause as object) to take full or sufficient account of
to appreciate a problem
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to value highly
to appreciate Shakespeare
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(usually intr) to raise or increase in value
Usage
What are other ways to say appreciate? To appreciate something is to value or regard it highly. How is appreciate different from esteem, value, and prize? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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appreciatesimple
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appreciatessimple
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have appreciatedperfect
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has appreciatedperfect
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am appreciatingprogressive
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are appreciatingprogressive
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is appreciatingprogressive
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have been appreciatingperfect progressive
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has been appreciatingperfect progressive
Past
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appreciatedsimple
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had appreciatedperfect
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was appreciatingprogressive
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were appreciatingprogressive
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had been appreciatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of appreciate
First recorded in 1645–55; from Medieval Latin appreciātus “valued, appraised,” from Late Latin appretiātus, past participle of appretiāre “to appraise” (equivalent to Latin ap- ap- 1 + preti(um) price + -ātus -ate 1 )
Explanation
If you appreciate something, you recognize its value. We can all appreciate how refreshing cold lemonade is on a sweltering summer day. The oldest meaning of appreciate is "to know the worth of something": "The parolee appreciated his newfound freedom." A related sense is "to be grateful for something," but this usage can sound wordy. Instead of "I would appreciate your sending me more information," consider: "Please send me more information." The word can also be used (without a direct object) to mean "to rise in worth": "The vintage Corvette would appreciate in value over the years."
Vocabulary lists containing appreciate
List 4
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"Icarus's Flight," Vocabulary from the poem
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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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:
Rural homes don’t necessarily appreciate more slowly than suburban ones, but there is a widespread belief that they do, which might be why he prefers to buy the latter.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
Did McElwee never come to appreciate the difference?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
But plenty of people, including a lot of religious folks who did not appreciate their motto turned into a truck commercial, did not.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
"I want to thank my dad for coming here, for my family flying here - I know you don't like flying so I appreciate it," she said as she teared up.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
She’ll talk about how hard life was for her folks, how lucky we are to own our home, and how Dad doesn’t appreciate what he grew up with.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
He appreciates the team that “took a chance on a kid from a little town in southern New Jersey” and signed him to two nine-figure contract extensions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Kane is thankful for Bellingham's presence in that leadership group, while Bellingham appreciates how Kane has always backed him in public.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
"Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he's receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital," his spokesman said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
The company said Wednesday that it appreciates the administration’s work on “a durable framework for future frontier model releases.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
“It’s not ev’ryone appreciates how beau’iful they are,” said Hagrid to Slughorn’s back, tears leaking from the corners of his crinkled eyes.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
"Our results suggest that enhanced burial of organic carbon in marine sediments played a much more important role than was previously appreciated."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
He bristled at bureaucracy at times but appreciated that there were limits to what government could do, said S.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
“They Live” looms just on the other side of appreciated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
I appreciated their business savvy and the way they always looked out for me, but the last thing I wanted to think about on the eve of my nineteenth birthday was financial planning.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
A memory play of quiet complexity, “We Had a World” is a moving meditation on the challenge of appreciating our imperfect yet irreplaceable loved ones in the time that’s available.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Jonathan and Drew Scott have since featured Walk Your Plans on several episodes of their various shows, appreciating the way viewers, as well as clients, get a better idea of what they’re actually building.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
“I ended up loving it and really appreciating its purity.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Since then, though, she says she's "learned to not take it personally" while appreciating the platform it offers for her daughter's story.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
He remembered exactly how he had felt sitting there—listening, making notes, appreciating everything, tabulating every scrap of evidence that told against the prisoner.
From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
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.
