Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of worship.
  • noun Profound love or regard.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of paying honors, as to a divine being; worship addressed to a deity; the supreme worship due to God alone. In the Rom. Cath. Ch., adoration is applied to any one of three kinds of worship (though properly only to the first), namely: latria, or worship due to God alone; dulia, or the secondary worship paid to angels and saints directly, or through the veneration of relics and images; and hyperdulia, the higher worship paid to the Virgin Mary. The saints and the Virgin are adored as the friends of God, having intercessory power with him.
  • noun Homage, or an act of homage, paid to one in high place or held in high esteem; profound reverence; the utmost respect, regard, or esteem; the highest degree of love, as of a man for a woman; heart's devotion.
  • noun In art and archaeology: A representation of the adoration of the infant Jesus by the magi or the shepherds.
  • noun A representation of the worship of an ancient divinity, of the deified dead, or of a king or an emperor. In Latin, adoratio.
  • noun A method of electing a pope. See extract.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of playing honor to a divine being; the worship paid to God; the act of addressing as a god.
  • noun Homage paid to one in high esteem; profound veneration; intense regard and love; fervent devotion.
  • noun A method of electing a pope by the expression of homage from two thirds of the conclave.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable An act of religious worship.
  • noun uncountable Admiration or esteem.
  • noun uncountable The act of adoring; loving devotion or fascination.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a feeling of profound love and admiration
  • noun the act of admiring strongly
  • noun the worship given to God alone

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French adoration, from Latin adōrātiō ("worship, adoration"), from adōrō ("beseech; adore, worship"), from ad ("to, towards") + ōrō ("beg").

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Examples

  • Horace does not say that he adores Lalage; Tibullus does not adore Delia; nor is even the term adoration to be found in Petronius.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • The Count de Beaunoir still continues to be particular, in what he calls his adoration of me; but his tone and style are too romantic to authorize me in any serious remonstrance.

    Anna St. Ives Thomas Holcroft 1777

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Religion 2009

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Scripture 2009

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Excerpts from Fr. Benedict Groeschel's "The Rosary: Chain of Hope" 2009

  • The blind adoration is getting old, he's the leader of the free world, not a rockstar.

    What Obama's reading on the Vineyard 2009

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Books 2009

  • So one network out of all of them has the audacity not to fall in adoration at his feet.

    Obama takes aim at Fox News 2009

  • O Lord, to kneel in adoration before Yourdivinity incarnate in this world.

    Jesus Christ 2009

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