adore

American  

[uh-dawr, uh-dohr] / əˈdɔr, əˈdoʊr /

verb (used with object)

• adores,
  present (3rd person singular)
• adored,
  past participle,  past
• adoring
  present participle

1. 

   to regard with the utmost esteem, love, and respect; honor.

   Synonyms:

   venerate, revere, reverence, idolize

   Antonyms:

   abhor

2. to pay divine honor to; worship.

   to adore God.

3. to like or admire very much.

   I simply adore the way your hair is done!

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verb (used without object)

• adores,
  present (3rd person singular)
• adored,
  past participle,  past
• adoring
  present participle

1. to worship.

adore British  

/ əˈdɔː /

verb

1. (tr) to love intensely or deeply

2. to worship (a god) with religious rites

3. informal (tr) to like very much

   I adore chocolate

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• adorer
  noun
• adoring
  adjective
• unadored
  adjective
• unadoring
  adjective
• adoringly
  adverb
• unadoringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• adoring
  present
• adored
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• adore
  simple
• adores
  simple
• have adored
  perfect
• has adored
  perfect
• am adoring
  progressive
• are adoring
  progressive
• is adoring
  progressive
• have been adoring
  perfect progressive
• has been adoring
  perfect progressive

Past

• adored
  simple
• had adored
  perfect
• was adoring
  progressive
• were adoring
  progressive
• had been adoring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will adore
  simple
• will have adored
  perfect
• will be adoring
  progressive
• will have been adoring
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of adore

First recorded in 1275–1325; from Latin adōrāre “to speak to, pray, worship,” from ad- ad- + ōrāre “to beg, plead, speak” ( see oration); replacing Middle English aour(i)e, from Old French aourer, from Latin

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Explanation

Someone you adore gets put on a pedestal. Considering your fear of germs, when you told me that you had shared a toothbrush — I knew you must adore her! Adore comes from the Latin word adorare, meaning “to worship.” So when you adore someone, it's more than just a crush. However, like many words of strong emotion, adore gets used in lighter situations as well. Your aunt tells me you just adore the miniature fruitcakes she sends you every holiday.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adore adores adored adoring

Those who adore Kurosawa’s unsettling earlier films may be thrown off by his new movie’s relatively muted approach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

“As a full-time solo RV woman I absolutely adore this!” one person wrote.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

Two nations who adore their football teams, meeting in 'Magic City'.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Then enters Mike Doonesbury, scraggly-haired and pointy-nosed, claiming improbably that “women adore me.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

“Dylan-ing isn’t a bad thing. To Dylan someone is to adore them. Even if they brew the worst coffee on God’s green earth.”

From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Wilson adores Odysseus so much that she has his bow tattooed on her right leg.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

The 54-year-old fisherman from a small village in Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi, has been a superfan of the Argentine football team since the 1980s and adores superstar Lionel Messi.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

If the best way to hit it big is to make a podcast that someone like Altman adores, then the rest of us are probably in trouble.

From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2026

Mr. Jacobs also adores the look of the taxi dancers—“broken dolls,” he calls them—in Bob Fosse’s movie “Sweet Charity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Tersteeg is settled down—married, with a baby girl, Betsy, whom Vincent adores.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

He was “smart as hell,” and adored his hometown of Atlanta, said his cousin She L. Robinson, a publicist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

She has an up-and-down relationship with her one close friend, and she hesitates to bother her adored brother, Laurie, if it means bothering Laurie’s wife.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

He offers a masculinity with actual range, one that can be soft and adored and unafraid to be looked at, one that treats femininity as a color to wear rather than a threat to survive.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

They added that "her little boy had been robbed of growing up with his mum beside him", but said they would make sure he grew up knowing "how much she adored him".

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Apparently, Michelle adored Auntie Chey because she knew so much history about the stream.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

"I love color. I love painting. I love shapes. I love composition. I love the people all around me. I'm adoring it all. My legacy is in the hands of other people."

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

The 35-year-old can often be seen, including in his own many social media posts, amongst adoring crowds or happily riding a retro East German scooter.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Little is known about Graham—or, apparently, by Graham—and it’s not as if the state’s right wing was ever adoring of her late brother.

From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026

Like Grande to her adoring fans, Maddie is Deena’s idol, and Deena measures Maddie’s success by her work benchmarks and public visibility.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

Elizabeth and I watch as Chef Morgan moves along with a wave of adoring fans to the back of the gym, where a few chairs are set up for teachers and guests.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

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Related Words

• admire
• cherish
• delight in
• fall for
• idolize
• revere
• worship

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