Adorer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. One who regards another person or thing with intense love, devotion, and reverence
2. A person who deeply cherishes and holds in high esteem another individual or object
3. Someone who holds a strong affection and high regard for a person or thing

Etymology: The word is simply adore plus the agent suffix "-er", so the interesting history lies in the suffix and the verb it attaches to. The "-er" ending comes down from Latin "-arius", which denoted a person connected with or performing something, and it reached English by way of Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-er". Its ancestry runs back through Proto-Germanic and Old English "-ere", so the same ending that forms "worker" and "baker" has been doing this job in English for a very long time. The verb "adore" is the more eventful part. It comes from Latin "adorare", meaning to pray to or worship, built from "ad" ("to") and "orare" ("to speak, pray"). Its original sense was religious: to offer worship to a god. Only later did it broaden to the intense devotion a person might feel toward another human being, which is the sense "adorer" carries today.

Synonyms: worshipper, devotee, fan, enthusiast, follower

Antonyms: critic, hater, opponent, detractor