admire

See also: Admire, and admiré

English

Etymology

From Middle English admyren, borrowed from Middle French admirer, from Latin admīror, from ad + mīror (“wonder at”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ədˈmaɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ədˈmaɪɹ/
• (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA^(key): /ədˈmʌɪɹ/
• Hyphenation: ad‧mire

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Verb

admire (third-person singular simple present admires, present participle admiring, simple past and past participle admired)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To be amazed at; to view with surprise; to marvel at.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 4:

     The poor fellow, admiring how he came there, was served in state all day long […].

   • 1640, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State:

     examples rather to be admired than imitated

2. (transitive) To regard with wonder and delight.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     kings ſhall crouch vnto our conquering ſwords,
     And hoſtes of Souldiers ſtand amazd at vs,
     When with their fearfull tongues they ſhall confeſſe
     Theſe are the men that al the world admires,

3. (transitive) To look upon with an elevated feeling of pleasure, as something which calls out approbation, esteem, love or reverence.
4. (transitive) To estimate or value highly; to hold in high esteem.

   to admire a person of high moral worth

   to admire a landscape

   He had always admired the work ethos and family values of his friend.

   • 2000, Marshall Mathers (Eminem) (lyrics and music), “The Way I Am”, in The Marshall Mathers LP:

     I'm so sick and tired of bein' admired. That I wish that I would just die or get fired.

6. (US, dialectal, rare) To be enthusiastic about (doing something); to want or like (to do something). (Sometimes followed by to.)
   • 1953, Arthur Miller, The Crucible:

     I'm not sayin' she's touched the Devil, now, but I'd admire to know what books she reads and why she hides them — she'll not answer me, y' see.

   • 1976, Field & Stream, page 10:

     And I'd admire seeing this creek become a sort of stopping place for geese of one sort and another.

   • 2002, Jack Jones, Iron Spur, →ISBN, page 37:

     “I hope you do. I'd admire seeing a lot of you.” They made camp down at the creek. Will spread her blanket not too far from his. “Well, aren't you a lady's man.” “Why do you say that?”

Derived terms

• admirable
• admirate
• admiration
• admirative
• admiredly
• admiree
• admirer
• unadmired

 

Related terms

• admirably
• admiratively
• mirate, miration
• mirative, mirativity

 

Translations

regard with wonder and delight

• Albanian: admiroj (sq)
• Arabic: عَجَبَ (ʕajaba)
• Belarusian: захапля́цца impf (zaxapljácca)
• Bulgarian: възхища́вам се impf (vǎzhištávam se), любува́м се impf (ljubuvám se)
• Catalan: admirar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏍᎦ (asquanigosga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 佩服 (zh) (pèifu), 欣賞／欣赏 (zh) (xīnshǎng)

• Czech: obdivovat (cs) impf
• Danish: beundre
• Dutch: bewonderen (nl), aanbidden (nl)
• Finnish: ihailla (fi)
• French: admirer (fr)
• Galician: admirar (gl)
• Gallurese: ammirià
• German: bewundern (de), verehren (de), hochschätzen (de)
• Greek: θαυμάζω (el) (thavmázo)
• Hebrew: הֶעֱרִיץ (he'eríts)
• Hungarian: csodál (hu)
• Ido: admirar (io)
• Irish:

  Old Irish: ad·amraigedar

• Italian: ammirare (it)
• Japanese: 感心する (ja) (かんしんする, kanshin suru)
• Korean: 존경하다 (ko) (jon'gyeonghada), 감탄하다 (gamtanhada), 칭찬하다 (ko) (chingchanhada)
• Latin: admīror (la), suspiciō
• Latvian: apbrīnot
• Macedonian: се восхи́тува impf (se voshítuva)
• Maltese: ammira
• Maori: miharo, whakamiha, whakamīharo, rāhiri, whakamanahau, rāhiri
• Occitan: admirar (oc), badar (oc)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: aata
• Polish: podziwiać (pl) impf, zachwycać się (pl) impf, admirować (pl) impf (literary)
• Portuguese: admirar (pt)
• Russian: восхища́ться (ru) impf (vosxiščátʹsja), восторга́ться (ru) impf (vostorgátʹsja), любова́ться (ru) impf (ljubovátʹsja)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: ammirai

  Logudorese: ammirare

• Sassarese: ammirà
• Spanish: admirar (es)
• Swedish: beundra (sv)
• Thai: ชม (th) (chom)
• Turkish: hayran olmak, bayılmak (tr) (colloquial)
• Ukrainian: захо́плюватися impf (zaxópljuvatysja)
• Vietnamese: khâm phục (vi)
• Volapük: stunidön (vo)
• Welsh: edmygu (cy)

Anagrams

• armied, Dimare, admier, raimed, mierda, Merida, Mérida

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• • IPA^(key): [adˈmire]
  • Rhymes: -ire
  • Hyphenation: ad‧mi‧re

Adverb

admire

1. admiringly

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

admire

1. inflection of admirer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• damier, médira, merdai, Mérida

Galician

Verb

admire

1. inflection of admirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

admire

1. inflection of admirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [adˈmire]

Verb

admire

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of admira

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ədˈmaɪr/

Verb

admire (third-person singular simple present admires, present participle admirin, simple past admired, past participle admired)

1. to admire, marvel at
2. (Shetland) to surprise, astonish

References

• “admire, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /adˈmiɾe/ [að̞ˈmi.ɾe]
• Rhymes: -iɾe
• Syllabification: ad‧mi‧re

Verb

admire

1. inflection of admirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative