• (RP) enPR: ədôʹ, IPA: /əˈdɔː/
• (America) enPR: ədôrʹ, IPA: /əˈdɔɹ/
• (rhotic, horse-hoarse) enPR: ədōrʹ, IPA: /əˈdo(ː)ɹ/
• (nonrhotic, horse-hoarse) IPA: /əˈdoə̯/

adore (adores, present participle adoring; past and past participle adored)

1. To worship.
   • circa 1605 William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 4,

     Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this?

   • 1758, Tobias Smollett, A Complete History of England, London: James Rivington and James Fletcher, 3rd edition, Volume 6, Book 8, “William III,” p. 29,

     [James] was met at the castle-gate by a procession of […] bishops and priests in their pontificals, bearing the host, which he publicly adored.

   • 1852, Frederick Oakeley (translator), “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in Francis H. Murray, A Hymnal for Use in the English Church,^{[https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/o/o-come,-all-ye-faithful]}

     Come and behold him

     Born the King of Angels:

     O come, let us adore Him,

     Christ the Lord.

   Antonyms: disdain
2. To love with one's entire heart and soul; regard with deep respect and affection.

   It is obvious to everyone that Gerry adores Heather.

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Volume I, Chapter 5, p. 388,

     The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and adored Monmouth.

   Antonyms: disdain
3. To be very fond of.
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

     "I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places. […]"

4. (obsolete) To adorn.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 4, Canto 11, p. ,

     […] and likewise on her hed

     A Chapelet of sundry flowers she wore,

     From vnder which the deawy humour shed,

     Did tricle downe her haire, like to the hore

     Congealed litle drops, which doe the morne adore.

   Antonyms: disdain

• adorable
• adoration

• French: adorer
• German: anbeten, verehren
• Italian: adorare
• Portuguese: adorar
• Russian: боготвори́ть
• Spanish: adorar

• French: adorer
• German: anbeten, verehren
• Italian: adorare
• Portuguese: amar
• Russian: обожа́ть
• Spanish: querer