esteem
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
-
favorable opinion or judgment; respect or regard.
to hold a person in esteem.
- Synonyms:
- veneration, reverence, honor, admiration, favor
-
Archaic. opinion or judgment; estimation; valuation.
verb
-
to have great respect or high regard for
to esteem a colleague
-
formal to judge or consider; deem
to esteem an idea improper
noun
-
high regard or respect; good opinion
-
archaic judgment; opinion
Usage
What are other ways to say esteem? If you esteem someone, you hold them in high regard. How is esteem different from appreciate, value, and prize? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
See respect.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
esteemsimple
-
esteemssimple
-
have esteemedperfect
-
has esteemedperfect
-
am esteemingprogressive
-
are esteemingprogressive
-
is esteemingprogressive
-
have been esteemingperfect progressive
-
has been esteemingperfect progressive
Past
-
esteemedsimple
-
had esteemedperfect
-
was esteemingprogressive
-
were esteemingprogressive
-
had been esteemingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of esteem
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English estemen, from Middle French estimer, from Latin aestimāre “to fix the value of”
Explanation
Esteem is all about respect and admiration. If you have high self-esteem, it means you like yourself. When you say, "My esteemed colleagues," you are saying you have nothing but the highest respect for them. Esteem derives from the same Latin word that gives us estimate, and back in the day, esteem, like estimate meant "to assess, or judge the value of something." That sense lingers today. When you say you hold someone in high esteem, it means you give them a high value. Unless you're a politician, in which case, when you say, "I hold my opponent in high esteem," you are most likely to follow that statement with a big "But...."
Vocabulary lists containing esteem
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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Things Fall Apart
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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.
Most countries hold us in remarkably lower esteem today than they did a year ago.
From Slate • Apr. 22, 2026
Robert Coover’s “The Universal Baseball Association Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.” has grown in esteem since the novel was first published in 1968.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
“The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world,” Kornet wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2026
"Abed loved journalism and held it in high esteem because it documents the truth," his father Samir Shaath told AFP, using his dead son's nickname.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
Siddhartha knew many worthy Brahmins, above all his father—holy, learned, of highest esteem His father was worthy of admiration; his manner was quiet and noble.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
Definitions 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.
