esteem
Americanverb (used with object)
-
esteems,
present (3rd person singular)
-
esteemed,
past participle, past
-
esteeming
present participle
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.
See Examples For:
It’s been a beacon of democracy since its founding, and countries all over the world have held it in such high esteem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
A French speaker, Leo had expressed on various occasions "the great esteem in which he holds our country and her spiritual history", Aveline said earlier in May.
From Barron's ● May 16, 2026
Most countries hold us in remarkably lower esteem today than they did a year ago.
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2026
Frederiksen had previously won international esteem and a degree of influence rarely afforded her nation of six million people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Yet despite its esteem problem, the humble contraction is used every day by virtually everyone, and has been for centuries.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
“I know that he esteems her a lot, like all the Jesuits of Argentina and Uruguay, because they consider her their spiritual mother,” Correale told The Associated Press in the runup to the ceremony.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 11, 2024
The great irony, or the sublime absurdity, is that like a priest who practices his faith after the death of God, Daoud esteems Camus even as he exposes the Nobel Prize-winning writer’s blind spots.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 1, 2015
PEN esteems not only exquisite literature, but also the right of all people to express themselves.
From Slate ● May 6, 2015
This is not contributing to a culture that esteems them.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2012
Music itself does not interest him much, if he can only have it on his shelves; and he is, and esteems himself to be, simply a quiet, zealous collector.
From Letters of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from Italy and Switzerland by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
It was 1955 and Marcus, a 31-year-old associate professor of chemistry still in the early stages of his career, had found an elementary mistake in the work of an esteemed scientist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
In a country that esteemed practicality, fiction was enlisted to speak directly to a cause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
This title is only awarded by the Congolese president to the most esteemed public figures.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Immigrants lived near the mission, and esteemed Spanish Mexican families lived in large mansions around the churches that dot Old Town in the mid-19th century — many came post-Spanish-Mexican wars.
From Salon ● May 9, 2026
“No exceptions. If you don’t want to do this assignment, my esteemed colleague, Mrs. Garrett, just told me she has some openings in her English class. They meet this period, too. You can transfer over.”
From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
What nudged Americans from esteeming fastidious high-culture figures like Muck to idolizing personally crude pop-culture stars like Ruth?
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2020
The Russians, esteeming ceremony as a proud proletarian power should, outdid themselves in welcome.
From Time Magazine Archive
She, on her part, grateful for this attachment and at the same time esteeming his mind and character, reciprocated with her whole heart.
From Whirlpools A Novel of Modern Poland by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Tell Arts they have no soundness, But vary by esteeming; Tell Schools they lack profoundness And stand too much on seeming: If Arts and Schools reply, Give Arts and Schools the lie.
From Tablets by Amos Bronson Alcott
Her grandmother's mode of esteeming mankind was certainly extraordinary.
From Countess Erika's Apprenticeship by Ossip Schubin
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.
