Adoration

How to spell adoration

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce adoration

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adoration mean?

1. nounDeep love, admiration, or reverent worship directed at a person or thing.

Adoration in a sentence

• The crowd watched the young couple with obvious adoration.

• Her diary was full of adoration for the painter she had studied under.

Where does adoration come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb adorare, which meant 'to address a prayer to' or 'to worship', formed from ad- meaning 'to' or 'toward' and orare meaning 'to pray' or 'to speak'. The same orare root sits behind the everyday words 'oral' and 'orator', a useful reminder that adoration is built on the idea of speaking or praying toward something held in high regard. The Latin noun adoratio described the act of paying homage, and English took the word in through Old French adoration during the late 1300s and 1400s, at first with a strongly religious sense of worship. Over time the meaning softened to include intense, often tender, love and admiration directed at a person. The spelling stays close to the Latin, with the single 'd' and the -ation ending intact, so picturing the related word 'adore' helps anchor it.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, toward)
• or- (from Latin orare: to pray, to speak)
• -ation (noun-forming suffix)