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esteem

UK/ɪˈstiːm/US/ɪˈstiːm/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,434 of 15,258neutral

Esteem is the respect in which somebody is held. Hold in high esteem, public esteem, self-esteem.

The phrase is nearly always high or low esteem. Self-esteem is the compound most people meet first, and psychology has moved away from treating it as something to raise directly, since it turns out to follow competence rather than produce it.

Definitions of esteem

  1. 1nounesteemThe respect in which somebody is held.B2+

    “The old doctor was held in high esteem by everyone in the town.”

esteem is a respect.

Where it comes from

Latin aestimare means to value or appraise. Estimate and aim are both doublets of esteem.

  1. Latin

    aestimō

  2. Middle French

    estimer

  3. English, today

    esteem

First at end of 16th century; Middle French estimer, Latin aestimō. See a doublet of estimate and aim, an older word, partly a doublet.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

esteem in the wild

  • Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals.

    Self-esteem

  • Self-esteem can apply to a specific attribute or globally.

    Self-esteem

  • Self-concept is made up of one's self-schemas, and interacts with self-esteem, self-knowledge, and the social self to form the self as a whole.

    Self-concept

  • TMT describes self-esteem as being the personal, subjective measure of how well an individual is living up to their cultural values.

    Terror management theory

  • On an individual level, self-esteem provides a buffer against death-related anxiety.

    Terror management theory

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.