admire

[ ad-mahyuhr ]

/ ædˈmaɪər /

|||

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR admire ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), ad·mired, ad·mir·ing.

to regard with wonder, pleasure, or approval.

to regard with wonder or surprise (usually used ironically or sarcastically): I admire your audacity.

verb (used without object), ad·mired, ad·mir·ing.

to feel or express admiration.

Dialect. to take pleasure; like or desire: I would admire to go.

Nearby words

admiralty law, admiralty metal, admiralty mile, admiralty range, admiration, admire, admirer, admiring, admiringly, admissible, admission

Idioms

be admiring of, Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. to admire: He's admiring of his brother's farm.

Origin of admire

1580–90; < Latin admīrārī, equivalent to ad- ad- + mīrārī (in Medieval Latin mīrāre) to wonder at, admire

SYNONYMS FOR admire

1 esteem, revere, venerate.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR admire ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR admire

1 despise.

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Related forms

ad·mir·er, nounpre·ad·mire, verb (used with object), pre·ad·mired, pre·ad·mir·ing.pre·ad·mir·er, nounqua·si-ad·mire, verb, qua·si-ad·mired, qua·si-ad·mir·ing.

un·ad·mired, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for admirer

I find both “admirer” and “suitor” to be presumptuous and one-sided.
What Should I Call the Man I Love?|Dushka Zapata|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He then waited a beat and deadpanned: “Yes I am an admirer of Lenin.”
The Bolshevik Who Thinks ‘The Nation’ Is Too Left Wing|Eli Lake|October 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
CSI not only aided a not-guilty verdict, but netted Dr. Phil an admirer.
It’s Time to Turn Off TV Doctors|April Siese|June 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Every few seconds, an escort or admirer comes by to give Lewis a quick hug or butt-squeeze.
And The Escort of The Year Is… Backstage at The Sex Oscars|Scott Bixby|March 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Marshall Berman, 72 Philosopher Marshall Berman was as much an admirer of diversity and modernism as he was of Karl Marx.
The Deaths You Missed This Year|Malcolm Jones, Jimmy So, Michael Moynihan, Caitlin Dickson|December 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It would ill become any admirer of Pascal to detract from the glory of Descartes.
Pascal|John Tulloch
The opinion of your admirer reduced this weighty trouble to what is, in this case as in yours, a very petty one.
The Petty Troubles of Married Life, Complete|Honore de Balzac
You must keep Emily for his lordship, positively, aunt: she is almost as great an admirer of him as yourself.
Precaution|James Fenimore Cooper
That sentence need not offend an admirer of Walt Whitman, for he "accepts both theism and the doctrine of the future life."
The Greatest English Classic|Cleland Boyd McAfee
Mr. Roe himself has supplied this in a letter written nearly a year ago, to an admirer, and part of which I am allowed to copy.
E.P. Roe: Reminiscences of his Life|Mary A. Roe

British Dictionary definitions for admirer

admire

/ (ədˈmaɪə) /

verb (tr)

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

archaic to wonder at

Derived Forms

admirer, nounadmiring, adjectiveadmiringly, adverb

Word Origin for admire

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012