appreciate

Originated 1645–55 from Medieval Latin appreciatus (“valued or appraised”), from Late Latin appretiatus (“appraised”), from ap- (form of ad- (“towards”)) + Latin preti(um) (“price”) (English precious) + -atus.

Cognate to French apprécier. Latin root also origin of English appraise, which has various Romance cognates.

• IPA^(key): /əˈpɹiː.ʃi.eɪt/, /əˈpɹiː.si.eɪt/, /əˈpɹɪʃ.i.eɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ap‧pre‧ci‧ate

appreciate (third-person singular simple present appreciates, present participle appreciating, simple past and past participle appreciated)

1. (transitive) To be grateful or thankful for.

   Synonyms: esteem, acknowledge

   I appreciate your efforts.

   We sincerely appreciate your help.

   Any aid will be warmly appreciated.

2. (transitive) To view as valuable.

   Synonym: esteem

   You must learn to appreciate time.

3. (transitive) To be fully conscious of; understand; be aware of; detect.

   Synonyms: grasp, acknowledge

   It is essential for the reader to appreciate how important this argument is.

   I appreciate that what I'm asking you to do is very difficult.

   • 1879, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, PC, DL, FRS, FRAI, Everett Mendelsohn (Donor), “Lecture I. On Flowers and Insects.”, in Scientific Lectures‎, 2nd edition, Macmillan and Company, published 1890, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 12:

     In order then to test the power of bees to appreciate colour, I placed some honey on a slip of glass, and put the glass on coloured paper.

   • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

     Eve: You learn to appreciate the light by living in the dark.

4. (intransitive, transitive) To increase in value.

   Antonym: depreciate

   The value of his portfolio appreciated by 80% over eight years.

   • 1809, David Ramsay, M. D., James Akin (Engraver), “IV. Fiscal history, 1670–1808.”, in The History of South-Carolina, from Its First Settlement in 1670, to the Year 1808. In Two Volumes.‎, volume 2, Charleston, South Carolina: David Longworth, published 1809, →OCLC, page 173:

     The sanguine, flattering themselves with the delusive hopes of a speedy termination of the war, were often induced to sell lest a sudden peace should appreciate the money, in which case it was sup­po­sed they would lose the present opportunity of sell­ing to great advantage.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Romance and Reality. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 234:

     Laughter may be generally classed under three heads,—forced, silly, or vulgar; but hers is the most sweet, real, spirituelle sound possible—it so appreciates the wit, which it increases as it catches—it speaks of spirits so fresh, so youthful!

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

• appretiate (archaic)
• 'preciate (pronunciation spelling)

• appraise
• appreciation
• appreciative
• precious

• “appreciate”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “appreciate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "appreciate" in the Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version), K Dictionaries limited, 2000-2006.
• “appreciate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• "appreciate" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.