Admiration is the warm respect you feel looking at somebody excellent. Great admiration, full of admiration, win admiration.
It is respect with warmth in it, which is what separates it from esteem. The construction is admiration for. A mutual admiration society is a scornful phrase for two people praising each other in public. Note admire, admirable, admirer; and that admiration is easier to give than affection and harder to give than approval, which is roughly its position between them.
1nounadmirationThe warm respect felt for somebody excellent.
“I have great admiration for nurses who work long night shifts.”
admiration is a warm respect.
Latin admiratio comes from admirari, to wonder at — ad plus mirari, the same verb as miracle and mirror. Admiration began as astonishment and warmed into respect.
Latin
admīrātiō
Middle French
admiration
Middle English
admiracion
English, today
admiration
Built from
From Middle English admiracion, borrowed from Middle French admiration, or directly from Latin admīrātiō, from prefix ad- (“to, towards”) + mīrō (“to look at”) + -ātiō. Compare the verb admire, and US dialectal terms miration and mirate.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Feelings & Character