admire
[ad-mahyuh r]
- to regard with wonder, pleasure, or approval.
- to regard with wonder or surprise (usually used ironically or sarcastically): I admire your audacity.
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- to feel or express admiration.
- Dialect. to take pleasure; like or desire: I would admire to go.
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- be admiring of, Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. to admire: He's admiring of his brother's farm.
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Origin of admire
1580–90; < Latin admīrārī, equivalent to ad- ad- + mīrārī (in Medieval Latin mīrāre) to wonder at, admire
Synonyms
See more synonyms for admire on Thesaurus.com1. esteem, revere, venerate.
Antonyms
1. despise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for admirer
Contemporary Examples
I find both “admirer” and “suitor” to be presumptuous and one-sided.
He then waited a beat and deadpanned: “Yes I am an admirer of Lenin.”
CSI not only aided a not-guilty verdict, but netted Dr. Phil an admirer.
Every few seconds, an escort or admirer comes by to give Lewis a quick hug or butt-squeeze.
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 YearMalcolm Jones, Jimmy So, Michael Moynihan, Caitlin Dickson
December 30, 2013
Historical Examples
He spoke of them more like a lover than an admirer, and told me he liked to go to them alone.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
Imogen was not coy; she would not have treated her admirer with affected disdain.
ImogenWilliam Godwin
Never would she attempt to divert a glance from her cousin's admirer.
The Innocent AdventuressMary Hastings Bradley
"As Miss Dalton's admirer, I hope rumor adds that," said she, hastily.
The Daltons, Volume I (of II)Charles James Lever
Of the "empasto," so much spoken of by connoisseurs, he is an admirer.
admire
- to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise
- archaic to wonder at
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for admirer
n.
c.1600, agent noun from admire (v.). "In common speech, a lover" [Johnson], a sense recorded from 1704.
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admire
v.
early 15c. (implied in admired), from Middle French admirer (Old French amirer, 14c.), or directly from Latin admirari "to wonder at" (see admiration). Related: Admiring; admiringly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper