esteem

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

First at end of 16th century; borrowed from Middle French estimer, from Latin aestimare (“to value, rate, weigh, estimate”); see estimate and aim, an older word, partly a doublet of esteem.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ɛsˈtiːm]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

esteem (usually uncountable, plural esteems)

  1. Favourable regard.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

esteem (third-person singular simple present esteems, present participle esteeming, simple past and past participle esteemed)

  1. To set a high value on; to regard with respect or reverence.
    • Bible, Job xxxvi. 19
      Will he esteem thy riches?
    • Tennyson
      You talk kindlier: we esteem you for it.
  2. To regard something as valuable; to prize.
  3. To look upon something in a particular way.
    Mary is an esteemed member of the community.
    • Bible, Deuteronomy xxxii. 15
      Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
    • Bishop Gardiner
      Thou shouldst (gentle reader) esteem his censure and authority to be of the more weighty credence.
    • Hawthorne
      Famous men, whose scientific attainments were esteemed hardly less than supernatural.
    • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. V, The English
      And greatly do I respect the solid character, — a blockhead, thou wilt say; yes, but a well- conditioned blockhead, and the best-conditioned, — who esteems all ‘Customs once solemnly acknowledged’ to be ultimate, divine, and the rule for a man to walk by, nothing doubting, not inquiring farther.
  4. (obsolete) To judge; to estimate; to appraise
    The Earth, which I esteem unable to reflect the rays of the Sun.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

References

Further reading
  • esteem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • esteem in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams
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