Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A feeling of strong approval or delight with regard to someone or something: synonym: regard.
  • noun The state of being viewed with such approval or delight.
  • noun The object of such approval and delight.
  • noun Archaic The action of wondering; marveling.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Wonder; astonishment; surprise.
  • noun Wonder mingled with approbation, esteem, love, or veneration; an emotion excited by what is novel, great, beautiful, or excellent: as, admiration of virtue or goodness; admiration of a beautiful woman or a fine picture.
  • noun The quality of exciting wonder or surprise; marvelousness; admirableness.
  • noun An object of wonder or approbation: now only in the phrase the admiration of.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Wonder; astonishment.
  • noun Wonder mingled with approbation or delight; an emotion excited by a person or thing possessed of wonderful or high excellence.
  • noun Cause of admiration; something to excite wonder, or pleased surprise; a prodigy.
  • noun the mark (!), called also exclamation point.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Wonder mingled with approbation or delight; an emotion excited by a person or thing possessed of wonderful or high excellence; as, admiration of a beautiful woman, of a landscape, of virtue.
  • noun obsolete Wonder or questioning, without any particular positive or negative attitude to the subject.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a feeling of delighted approval and liking
  • noun a favorable judgment
  • noun the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French admiration < Latin admīrātiō, from prefix ad- + mīrō ("I look at") + -ātiō. Compare the verb admire.

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Examples

  • Following Burke, Reid identifies the affect properly inspired by beautiful objects as love (this contrasts with the affect properly inspired by sublime objects, which he identifies as admiration).

    18th Century British Aesthetics Shelley, James 2006

  • In a short time, however, he contrived to draw my attention to himself, by his extreme impertinence; for he chose to express what he called his admiration of me, in terms so open and familiar, that he forced me to express my displeasure with equal plainness.

    Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World Fanny Burney 1796

  • In a short time, however, he contrived to draw my attention to himself, by his extreme impertinence; for he chose to express what he called his admiration of me, in terms so open and familiar, that he forced me to express my displeasure with equal plainness.

    Evelina 1778

  • Respect and admiration is what he believes in – to which she adds trust, and there we have our definition of what non-romantic love is: trust, respect, and admiration (Oxford comma optional).

    Hal Hartley’s Trust – at last on DVD « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2009

  • I can holier-than-thou with the best of them – but I stand in admiration for Letterman saying screw off to blackmail.

    Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 10/02/09 2009

  • It was the same at the end of an oar or rope and Phrynus heard, in his stupor, the sounds of grudging admiration from the gang.

    The One Handed Rower of Myonnesus « A Fly in Amber 2009

  • One has to stand (and try not to stare) in admiration of her commitment to her education.

    Splat. 2009

  • He received years of praise and admiration from the public that he did not deserve, and now he is exposed as a fraud.

    NEWS December 2010

  • Indeed, it is not uncommon to see visitors rapt in admiration before the spellbinding beauty of the artwork nor, at the same time, to observe the devotion of all those engrossed in prayer in search of comfort and assistance before the image of Mary, who is venerated here under the beloved title of Salus Populi Romani.

    The Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore 2009

  • [The title story's] set-up is so beautifully engineered that it left me simultaneously gasping in admiration and shaking with laughter.

    Nocturnes: Summary and book reviews of Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro. 2009

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