English
admiration
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˌæd.mɚˈeɪʃ.ən/
Noun

admiration

  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).
    • circa 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, Book of 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,[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_(1674)/Book_III]
      […] Admiration seized
      All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,
      Wondering;
  3. (obsolete) Cause of admiration; something to excite wonder, or pleased surprise.
    • circa 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.
Synonyms Translations

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