admiration

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.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæd.mɚˈeɪʃ.ən/

• 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, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 1, pp. 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, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Volume 1, Chapter 6,

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

   • 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days, New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovich, 1974, Chapter 3, p. 40,

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

   • 1939, John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath, Penguin, 1951, Chapter 19, p. 257,

     […] 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. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 4,

     Lear. Your name, fair gentlewoman?

     Goneril. This admiration, sir, is much o’ th’ savour

     Of other your new pranks.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 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.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 3, 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. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 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

• see admire

Borrowed from Latin admiratio, admirationem.

• 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 ! ..." (Les Chants de Maldoror - Chant V) - Full of admiration for his enemy, ...

• “admiration” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

admiration (plural admirations)

1. admiration

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