admire
Americanverb (used with object)
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admires,
present (3rd person singular)
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admired,
past participle, past
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admiring
present participle
verb (used without object)
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admires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
admired,
past participle, past
-
admiring
present participle
-
to feel or express admiration.
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Dialect. to take pleasure; like or desire.
I would admire to go.
idioms
verb
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to regard with esteem, respect, approval, or pleased surprise
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archaic to wonder at
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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admirernoun
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quasi-admireverb
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preadmireverb (used with object)
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admiringadjective
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unadmiredadjective
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admiringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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admiresimple
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admiressimple
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have admiredperfect
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has admiredperfect
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am admiringprogressive
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are admiringprogressive
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is admiringprogressive
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have been admiringperfect progressive
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has been admiringperfect progressive
Past
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admiredsimple
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had admiredperfect
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was admiringprogressive
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were admiringprogressive
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had been admiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of admire
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin admīrārī, equivalent to ad- ad- + mīrārī (in Medieval Latin mīrāre ) “to wonder at, admire”
Explanation
If you hold someone in high esteem or look up to someone, you admire that person. If you ask four-year-olds who they most admire, they are likely to list their mom, dad, and grandparents — or superheroes and comic book characters. The verb admire also means to look at with wonder and pleasure. She stood on the balcony of her hotel for a long time, simply to admire the view of the ocean and the surf as it crashed against the rocks below. I admire the way she volunteers to help at the school and with other charities because she is willing to give her time to good causes.
Vocabulary lists containing admire
"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
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"A Natural Balance" and "In My Dreams"
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Lyrics from "American Pie" by Don McLean
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I was sticking up for Winnie Harlow, a woman that I admire, and many women and young girls look up to,” McHenry said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
"Please know how deeply we feel with your sorrow, how greatly we admire your strength, and how you will, always, be in our hearts."
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
"He's been one of the persons I admire the most in how he conducted himself in all of this," said Hallgrimsson.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
She’s been through a lot of grief, and I admire her resilience.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
We would walk through its tree-lined campus, peek into college classrooms, and admire its magnificent chapel with its vaulted ceiling, grand columns, and multicolored stained glass.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Maria admires the courage that it took for her sister to go.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Macron invited him to a formal dinner to be held at the one place Trump admires most in the world, other than Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower: the Palace of Versailles.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
He admires him, but there is a quiet stubbornness in how he frames his own ambition.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Plus, Hodin, 37, a freelance writer who chronicled her “groomzilla” experience for Vogue, admires his gold-plated tastes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Auguste's mother, Duchesse Georgiana, readjusts the crown on Charlotte's head and admires the glittering scepter in her lap.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Buck and Aikman, an admired NFL TV duo who have worked together for 25 years, appear headed for an unexpected, unhappy split.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
“Discover breathtaking prewar grandeur in this spacious one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom co-op featuring exceptional architectural detail and a wood-burning fireplace in one of Greenwich Village’s most admired full-service buildings,” the listing states.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
I’ve admired George Lucas — I used to have a relative in Marin County, and growing up, we’d go to lunch, and I’d see George Lucas and his family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Although the Gunners are more admired for their defensive prowess, it's still surprising that eight teams have a higher xG than champions Arsenal, while Liverpool and Chelsea also rank in mid-table.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
They’d admired these aspects of her personality from a distance before they actually met her, but now that she was living and working with them in the flesh, she was their ideal leader.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
From admiring Lakers legends, Kessler can now be mentioned in the same breath.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
"But admiring someone does not give you the right to take, to claim as mine texts that are not my own."
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
"I'm so admiring of his strength of character and the zen-like state he's been in since the very beginning of the match," said former British number one Annabel Croft.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
He also has admiring words for Robert F. Kennedy and his mix of conservative and liberal positions deployed in his 1968 campaign.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
"There," she said at last, stepping back, admiring her work.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
