Admiring

How to spell admiring

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce admiring

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does admiring mean?

1. adjectiveShowing pleasure, approval or respect for someone or something.
2. verbRegarding someone or something with respect, pleasure or approval (present participle of admire).

Admiring in a sentence

• adjective

  She gave the renovated kitchen an admiring glance before sitting down.

• verb

  She stood at the window admiring the view across the harbour.

• adjective

  The new sculpture drew an admiring crowd in the gallery foyer.

• verb

  The tourists kept admiring the old cathedral long after sunset.

Where does admiring come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb admirari, meaning 'to wonder at' or 'to marvel at', formed from ad- 'at, toward' and mirari 'to wonder', which itself grew from mirus 'wonderful, astonishing'. The same mirus root quietly survives in everyday English words such as 'marvel', 'miracle' and 'mirror', all of which carry a flavour of something striking enough to gaze at. English picked the verb up in the sixteenth century, partly through the French admirer, and at first 'admire' kept its older sense of plain astonishment before softening into the warmer modern meaning of regarding something with pleasure and approval. The participle 'admiring' simply adds the -ing ending, and because the base 'admire' ends in a silent e, that e is dropped before -ing; remembering that drop is the small spelling hurdle here.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, toward)
• mir (to wonder, from Latin mirari)
• -ing (present participle suffix)