Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To make beloved or very sympathetic.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make dear in feeling; render valued or beloved; attach; bind by ties of affection.
- To engage by attractive qualities; win by endearment.
- To make dear or costly; raise the price of.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make dear or beloved.
- transitive verb rare To raise the price or cost of; to make costly or expensive.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make attractive or lovable
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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What endeared him to those of us in the center and center left -- and I use the word endear with some trepidation when it comes to McCain -- was an honesty and unpredictability that made him seem like he was capable of rising above the GOP partisan fray when it was important for the sake of the nation.
Wisconsin Primary: The Results Show. Ann Althouse 2008
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I make chuse of you to inform your Master, who's the capablest person under God to do for them, which will with other infinit titles endear you to your fast friends in Scotland, and especially to your
Pickle the Spy; Or, the Incognito of Prince Charles Andrew Lang 1878
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His reaction deeply hurt Jane -- and didn't exactly endear him to his wife.
John Shore: The Smith Family Chronicles 4: 'Hello, I Am Your Son' John Shore 2011
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But his quintessential New York story should endear him to the city, enthusiasts insist.
Founding Father's New Home Sophia Hollander 2011
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His reaction deeply hurt Jane -- and didn't exactly endear him to his wife.
John Shore: The Smith Family Chronicles 4: 'Hello, I Am Your Son' John Shore 2011
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The conciliatory move is not likely to endear him to Republican primary voters.
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Such comments are unlikely to endear him to Liverpool's under-fire players, which is a shame as they're crying out for a bit of the mongrel that is the Afghan Hound lookalike's stock-in-trade.
Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend Barry Glendenning 2010
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And while this sort of depiction makes for, as my agent gently put it, "a great character," it does not exactly endear one to said mother when the book is published.
Eric Poole: She has Every Right to Kill Me Eric Poole 2011
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Nothing better illustrated the turbulent state of civil-military relations during this period than the hostility on the part of the uniformed military toward President Bill Clinton, whose antimilitary stance as a young man during the Vietnam War years did not endear him to soldiers.
The War on Terror and the Revolt of the Generals Mackubin Owens 2010
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And while this sort of depiction makes for, as my agent gently put it, "a great character," it does not exactly endear one to said mother when the book is published.
Eric Poole: She has Every Right to Kill Me Eric Poole 2011
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