Adore Meaning
/əˈdɔː/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo worship.
verbTo love with one's entire heart and soul; regard with deep respect and affection.
Sentence Examples
I adore going to the cinema.
I just adore your new hat.
We have a cat, and we all adore him.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I absolutely ____ the way she sings, especially the high notes in that song.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I absolutely ____ the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English *adoren, aouren, from Old French adorer, aorer, from Latin adōrō (“to pray to”), from ad (“to”) + ōrō (“to speak”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Now, gods that we adore, whereof comes this?"
— c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
"The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and adored Monmouth."
— 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter V, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 388:
"You pretend you're high / Pretend you're bored / Pretend you're anything / Just to be adored"
— 1996, “Stupid Girl”, performed by Garbage:
""I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places.[…]""
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"[…] and likewise on her hed
A Chapelet of sundry flowers she wore,
From vnder which the deawy humour shed,
Did tricle downe her haire, like to the hore
Congealed litle drops, which doe the morne adore."
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I absolutely ____ the way she sings, especially the high notes in that song.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I absolutely ____ the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.