adore

[ uh-dawr, uh-dohr ]

/ əˈdɔr, əˈdoʊr /

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verb (used with object), a·dored, a·dor·ing.

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

to pay divine honor to; worship: to adore God.

to like or admire very much: I simply adore the way your hair is done!

verb (used without object), a·dored, a·dor·ing.

to worship.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

adoptive immunotherapy, adorable, adoral, adoration, adorbs, adore, adoring, adorn, adornment, adorno, adoula

Origin of adore

1275–1325; < Latin adōrāre to speak to, pray, worship, equivalent to ad- ad- + ōrāre to speak, beg (see oral); replacing Middle English aour(i)e < Old French aourer < Latin

SYNONYMS FOR adore

1 idolize; reverence, revere, venerate.

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ANTONYMS FOR adore

1 abhor.

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Related forms

a·dor·er, nouna·dor·ing·ly, adverbun·a·dored, adjectiveun·a·dor·ing, adjective

un·a·dor·ing·ly, adverb

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

Examples from the Web for adoringly

Blindly and adoringly Billy had followed her until her departure from the Gray House.
The Girl Scouts in Beechwood Forest|Margaret Vandercook
I was adoringly fond of her, but I was also eighteen, and this was my first introduction to a real romance.
The Lowest Rung|Mary Cholmondeley
John Ring used to handle it adoringly and kept it polished to brilliancy.
The Story of Fifty-Seven Cents and Others|Robert Shackleton
She turned from gazing and found Gardley's eyes upon her adoringly, a tender understanding of her mood in his glance.
A Voice in the Wilderness|Grace Livingston Hill

The two in the rear, whose bodies are hidden in the clouds, gaze upon him adoringly.
Correggio|Estelle M. Hurll

British Dictionary definitions for adoringly

adore

/ (əˈdɔː) /

verb

(tr) to love intensely or deeply

to worship (a god) with religious rites

(tr) informal to like very muchI adore chocolate

Derived Formsadorer, nounadoring, adjectiveadoringly, adverb

Word Origin for adore

C15: via French from Latin adōrāre, from ad- to + ōrāre to pray

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 adoringly

adore

late 14c., aouren, "to worship, pay divine honors to, bow down before," from Old French aorer "to adore, worship, praise" (10c.), from Latin adorare "speak to formally, beseech, ask in prayer," in Late Latin "to worship," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + orare "speak formally, pray" (see orator). Meaning "to honor very highly" is attested from 1590s; weakened sense of "to be very fond of" emerged by 1880s. Related: Adored; adoring.