admirable

admirable — adjective

1. showing very good qualities, behaviour, or skill, so that other people feel resp

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

showing very good qualities, behaviour, or skill, so that other people feel respect for the person or thing and want to praise them.

Example

Theo showed admirable patience while teaching her grandfather how to use his new phone.

collocation: admirable patience / courage / honesty

The young firefighter's calm response during the rescue was truly admirable.

linking-verb pattern: be / seem / appear admirable

Common collocations
  • admirable patience
  • admirable courage
  • admirable honesty
  • admirable restraint
  • with admirable skill
  • truly admirable
Synonyms
  • commendable

    more formal, often used in official praise

  • praiseworthy

    stronger emphasis on deserving public recognition

  • exemplary

    suggests being a model that others should copy

  • laudable

    very formal; usually for goals or efforts rather than people

Antonyms
  • deplorable

    strongly disapproving — the opposite end of moral judgement

  • contemptible

    describes behaviour that deserves scorn

Grammar Patterns

an admirable + noun

find something admirable

Usage Note

Subject is usually a person's quality, action, or achievement rather than the person themselves; saying 'she is admirable' is grammatical but less common than 'her honesty is admirable' or 'an admirable doctor'. Often used in the fixed pattern 'with admirable + noun' to praise the manner in which something was done.

Common Mistakes

The food at this restaurant is admirable.
The food at this restaurant is excellent.
'admirable' praises moral quality, courage, or skill, not taste or pleasure.
I am admirable of his honesty.
I admire his honesty.' or 'His honesty is admirable.
'admirable' describes the thing being praised, not the person doing the praising.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All five words describe something that deserves positive recognition, but they differ in formality and focus. 'Admirable' is the most everyday choice and works for personal qualities, actions, and achievements — 'her honesty is admirable'. 'Commendable' is slightly more formal and often appears in official feedback or reports — 'a commendable effort by the whole team'. 'Praiseworthy' emphasizes that the action deserves to be publicly recognized, often by an authority — 'a praiseworthy contribution to charity'. 'Exemplary' goes further: it presents the subject as a model others should follow — 'exemplary conduct in the army'. 'Laudable' is the most formal and tends to describe goals or intentions rather than people — 'a laudable aim, though hard to achieve'.

admirable ↗commendablepraiseworthyexemplary ↗laudable

Common collocations

Nouns

  • admirable patience
  • admirable courage
  • admirable honesty
  • admirable restraint
  • admirable achievement
  • admirable performance
  • admirable quality

Adverbs

  • truly admirable
  • highly admirable
  • quite admirable
  • genuinely admirable

Phrases

  • with admirable skill
  • an admirable example
  • find something admirable

Prepositions

  • admirable in (its simplicity)
  • admirable for (its honesty)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

English borrowed 'admirable' in the late 1400s from Old French 'admirable', which itself came from the Latin verb 'admirari' meaning 'to wonder at' (from 'ad-' 'at' + 'mirari' 'to wonder'). The earliest English uses still carried the older sense of 'causing wonder or surprise', but over the next two centuries the meaning narrowed to today's sense of 'deserving warm respect or praise'. The same Latin root produced 'admire', 'miracle', and 'mirror'.