admire

[ad-mahyuhr]

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.

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

Related formsad·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

Synonyms for admire

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1. esteem, revere, venerate.

Antonyms for admire

1. despise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for admirer

enthusiast, devotee, adherent, patron, partisan, believer, disciple, follower, fan, lover, worshiper, booster, groupie, supporter, buff, sweetheart, freak, beau, fancier, nut

Examples from the Web for admirer

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of admirer

He spoke of them more like a lover than an admirer, and told me he liked to go to them alone.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
Imogen was not coy; she would not have treated her admirer with affected disdain.
Imogen
William Godwin
Never would she attempt to divert a glance from her cousin's admirer.
The Innocent Adventuress
Mary 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.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845
Various

British Dictionary definitions for admirer

admire

verb (tr)

to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise
archaic to wonder at

Derived Formsadmirer, 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

Word Origin and History for admirer

c.1600, agent noun from admire (v.). "In common speech, a lover" [Johnson], a sense recorded from 1704.

admire

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.