appreciate

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To recognize the quality, significance, or magnitude of: appreciated their freedom.
2. v. To be fully aware of or sensitive to; realize: I appreciate your problems.
3. v. To be thankful or show gratitude for: I really appreciate your help.
4. v. To admire greatly; value.
5. v. To raise in value or price, especially over time.
6. v. To increase in value or price, especially over time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To value; set a price or value on; estimate the commercial worth of.
2. To esteem duly; place a sufficiently high estimate on; recognize the quality or worth of: as, his great ability was not appreciated.
3. To be fully conscious of; be aware of; detect; perceive the nature or effect of.
4. To raise in value; advance the exchange, quotation, or price of: opposed to depreciate.
5. Synonyms Value, Prize, Esteem, Estimate, Appreciate. Value and estimate commonly imply a comparison with a standard of commercial worth: as, to value a picture at so much; to estimate its value at so much. To prize is to value highly, generally for other than pecuniary reasons, and suggesting the notion of reluctance to lose. Thus, we prize a book for its contents or associations; we prize a friend for his affection for us. To esteem is sometimes simply to think: as, I esteem him a scoundrel; sometimes to value: as, I esteem it lightly; sometimes to have a high opinion of or set a high value on: as, I esteem him for his own sake; in its highest sense it implies moral approbation. Estimating is an act of computation or judgment, and wholly without feeling or moral approbation: as, to estimate the size of a room, the weight of a stone, the literary excellence of a book, the character of a person. (See esteem, n., for comparison of corresponding nouns.) Appreciate is to set a just value on; it implies the use of wise judgment or delicate perception: as, he appreciated the quality of the work. With this perception naturally goes a corresponding intellectual valuation and moral esteem: as, they knew how to appreciate his worth. Appreciate often implies also that the thing appreciated is likely to be overlooked or underestimated. It is commonly used of good things: as, I understood his wickedness; I realized or recognized his folly; I appreciated his virtue or wisdom. Compare such phrases as an appreciative audience, a few appreciative words, appreciation of merit.
6. To rise in value; become of more value: as, public securities appreciated when the debt was funded.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive to be grateful or thankful for.
2. v. transitive to view as valuable.
3. v. transitive to be fully conscious of; be aware of; detect.
4. v. transitive to increase in value.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To set a price or value on; to estimate justly; to value.
2. v. U.S. To raise the value of; to increase the market price of; -- opposed to depreciate.
3. v. To be sensible of; to distinguish.
4. v. To rise in value. [See note under rise, v. i.]

WordNet 3.0

1. v. be fully aware of; realize fully
2. v. increase the value of
3. v. gain in value
4. v. hold dear
5. v. recognize with gratitude; be grateful for