admire

[ad-mahyuhr]

verb (used with object)

admired, admiring 

1. to regard with wonder, pleasure, or approval.

   Synonyms: venerate, revere, esteem
   Antonyms: despise

2. to regard with wonder or surprise (usually used ironically or sarcastically).

   I admire your audacity.

verb (used without object)

admired, admiring 

1. to feel or express admiration.

2. Dialect.,  to take pleasure; like or desire.

   I would admire to go.

admire

/ ədˈmaɪə /

verb

1. to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise

2. archaic,  to wonder at

Other Word Forms

• admirer noun
• preadmire verb (used with object)
• quasi-admire verb
• unadmired adjective
• admiring adjective
• admiringly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of admire¹

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin admīrārī, equivalent to ad- ad- + mīrārī (in Medieval Latin mīrāre ) “to wonder at, admire”

Word History and Origins

Origin of admire¹

C16: from Latin admīrāri to wonder at, from ad- to, at + mīrāri to wonder, from mīrus wonderful

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. be admiring of, to admire.

   He's admiring of his brother's farm.

Example Sentences

Christmas markets are thought to have originated in Germany in the 14th Century, and its markets have long been admired since.

Read more on BBC

Her fiction, so alive to sensory experience and the interior struggles of the mind and heart, helped extend the literary tradition of Virginia Woolf, a modernist whom Welty deeply admired.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

By 2019 as the developmental process for the concept art was moving along, the Duffer Brothers approached Gower, whose work on “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” they admired.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Attorney General Robert Jackson, whose views about the power and responsibility of prosecutors are widely admired.

Read more on Salon

I applaud the SEC’s willingness to revisit its rules and to retrospectively evaluate the costs and benefits of its regulations—a practice to be admired and emulated.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• adore 
• applaud 
• appreciate 
• cherish 
• commend 
• credit 
• extol 
• hail 
• honor 
• idolize 
• laud 
• marvel at www.thesaurus.com
• praise 
• prize 
• respect 
• revere 
• treasure 
• worship