appreciate

• appretiate (archaic)

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/
• Hyphenation: ap‧pre‧ci‧ate

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

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

   I appreciate your efforts

   Synonym: esteem

2. (transitive) To view as valuable.

   You must learn to appreciate time

   Synonym: esteem

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

   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.

   • Lubbock

     to test the power of bees to appreciate colour

   Synonym: grasp

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

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

   • Ramsay

     lest a sudden peace should appreciate the money

   Antonym: depreciate

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

• 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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• "appreciate" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.