Venerates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To hold in high esteem and admiration, showing profound respect through worship or reverence for someone or something considered sacred or valuable
2. To express great respect and honor, treating someone or something with deep reverence and admiration as if it were sacred or exceptional
3. To regard with deep honor and respect, often in a solemn or admiring manner

Etymology: "Venerates" is the third-person singular present form of "venerate," so the history belongs to the verb itself. The verb is first recorded in English in 1623, borrowed from the Latin "veneror," meaning "to worship" or "to venerate." Its ancestor is the Latin verb's past participle, "venerātus," to which English added the verb-forming suffix "-ate," as it did in many other Latin-derived verbs. The Latin root "veneror" connects to the older Latin word "venus," meaning charm or loveliness, which is also the source of the name of the goddess Venus. That link suggests the earliest sense of reverence was rooted in admiration and desire as much as in religious devotion. In English the word kept that core: to regard someone or something with a deep, almost worshipful esteem.

Synonyms: reveres, respects, worships, honors, idolizes

Antonyms: despises, disrespects, scorns, mock, ridicules