Admirable means deserving respect and praise. An admirable effort, admirable restraint, thoroughly admirable.
The stress falls on the first syllable — AD-mirable — which surprises people who expect it on the second. Admirable restraint and admirable clarity are near-fixed phrases. Note admirably, which is common after a verb: she handled it admirably; and that admirable is a shade cooler than wonderful, because it says the thing deserves praise rather than that the speaker feels any.
1adjectiveadmirableDeserving respect and praise.
“She showed admirable patience with the difficult customer.”
synonyms: commendable, praiseworthy
admirable is a quality deserving praise.
Latin admirabilis comes from admirari, to wonder at — ad plus mirari, the same verb as in miracle and mirror. Something admirable is worth wondering at, which is stronger than the modern polite use suggests.
Latin
admirābilis
Middle French
admirable
Middle English
admyrable
English, today
admirable
From Middle English admyrable, partly from Middle French admirable and partly from its etymon, Latin admirābilis. by surface analysis, admire + -able.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA