Other forms: appreciated, appreciating, appreciates
To appreciate something is to see its full worth. Appreciate good music, appreciate the effort, appreciate what she went through. The word says you have understood the value, not merely noticed the thing.
In polite English it does a great deal of work as thanks: I would appreciate an early reply, I appreciate your help. That is one of the most useful formulas a learner can carry into an email, and it is warmer than thank you in advance without being informal. Two further senses: to appreciate a fact is to understand it fully — I appreciate that this is difficult — and, in finance, to appreciate is to rise in value, which is the opposite of depreciate.
1verbappreciateTo recognise the full worth of something and be glad of it.~94%
“She appreciates good coffee and will not drink anything else.”
synonyms: value, prize, enjoy
2verbgratefulTo be grateful for something.~2%
“I would appreciate a reply by Friday.”
3verbunderstandTo understand a fact or a difficulty fully.~2%
“I appreciate that this is not what you wanted to hear.”
4verbriseTo rise in value.~2%
“The house has appreciated considerably since they bought it.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 9 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
appreciate is a way of valuing.
Also accepted in games: value
Latin appretiare is ad- plus pretium, price — to set a price on something. Appreciate and appraise are the same word arriving twice, and the financial sense is not a metaphor but the original meaning showing through.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
appretiātus — appraised
Medieval Latin
appreciātus — valued or appraised
English, today
appreciate
Originated 1645–55; from Medieval Latin appreciātus (“valued or appraised”), later variant of Latin appretiātus (“appraised”), the perfect passive participle of appretiō (see -ate), from a(d) + preti(um) + -ō. Cognate to French apprécier. Latin root also origin of English a doublet of appraise, which has various Romance cognates; see also precious.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA