Adore

How to spell adore

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce adore

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adore mean?

1. verbTo love or admire someone or something very intensely.
2. verbTo worship or honour a god or sacred figure with reverence.

Adore in a sentence

• The children adore their new puppy and follow it everywhere.

• The faithful gather each morning to adore at the temple.

• Many tourists adore the quiet beaches along that coast.

• Pilgrims travel great distances to adore at the shrine.

Where does adore come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Adore traces back to the Latin verb adorare, which was formed from ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward', and orare, meaning 'to pray' or 'to speak'. In its earliest use the word was strictly religious: to adore was to pray to or worship a god, offering reverence with the mouth and voice. English picked it up around the 14th century through Old French adorer, keeping that sense of devout worship for centuries. Over time the feeling softened into the everyday meaning of loving someone or something intensely, the way we now adore a person, a place, or a favourite meal. The same orare root, the idea of speaking and pleading, also gives us 'oral', 'orator', and 'oracle', which is a useful clue that the spelling ends in -ore rather than -oor.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, toward)
• -ore (from Latin orare: to pray, to speak)