admiration

From Middle English admiracion, borrowed from Middle French admiration, or directly from Latin admīrātiō, from prefix ad- (“to, towards”) + mīrō (“I look at”) + -ātiō. Compare the verb admire, and US dialectal terms miration and mirate.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˌæd.məˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

admiration (countable and uncountable, plural admirations)

1. A positive emotion including wonder and approbation; the regarding of another as being wonderful

   admiration of a war hero

   They looked at the landscape in admiration.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 1, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book 7, pages 4-5:

     For in this Instance, Life most exactly resembles the Stage, since it is often the same Person who represents the Villain and the Heroe; and he who engages your Admiration To-day, will probably attract your Contempt To-Morrow.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 6, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.

   • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

     Dr. Veraswami had a passionate admiration for the English, which a thousand snubs from Englishmen had not shaken.

   • 1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 19, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC; Compass Books edition, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1967, →OCLC:

     […] in the towns, the storekeepers hated them because they had no money to spend. There is no shorter path to a storekeeper’s contempt, and all his admirations are exactly opposite. The town men, little bankers, hated Okies because there was nothing to gain from them.

2. (obsolete) Wondering or questioning (without any particular positive or negative attitude to the subject).
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     Lear. Your name, fair gentlewoman?
     Goneril. This admiration, sir, is much o’ th’ savour
     Of other your new pranks.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 17:6:

     And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 270-272:

     […] Admiration seized
     All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,
     Wondering;

3. (obsolete) Cause of admiration; something to excite wonder, or pleased surprise.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act ALL'S WELL, scene ii], page 1:

     Now, good Lafeu,
     Bring in the admiration; that we with thee
     May spend our wonder too, or take off thine
     By wondering how thou took’st it.

• (positive emotion including wonder and approbation): approval, appreciation, adoration, reverence, wonder, worship

Borrowed from Latin admirātiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /ad.mi.ʁa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

admiration f (plural admirations)

1. admiration
   • Plein d’admiration pour son adversaire, chacun lève sa propre visière : "Elsseneur ! ...", "Réginald ! ..."

     Full of admiration for his enemy, each raised his own visor: "Elsinore!" ... "Reginald!" ...

     (Les Chants de Maldoror - Chant V)

• → Bulgarian: адмира́ция (admirácija)

• “admiration”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

admiration (plural admirations)

1. admiration

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online