What does esteeming mean?
"Esteeming" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "esteem," which means to regard someone or something with respect, admiration, or high regard. When a person is esteeming another, they are recognizing that person's worth or merit — a teacher esteeming a student's diligence, or colleagues esteeming a leader's honesty. The verb also has an older, now largely archaic sense meaning simply "to consider" or "to judge," as in esteeming a plan unwise. The word derives from the Latin aestimare, meaning to appraise or fix the value of something, which gives it an interesting underlying metaphor: to esteem someone is, etymologically, to assess their value and find it high. Today the noun "esteem" — especially in "self-esteem" — far outstrips the verb in frequency, so "esteeming" tends to appear in formal, literary, or deliberately elevated prose. Its synonyms include respecting, admiring, valuing, prizing, and revering; its natural opposites are despising and disdaining. Because of its warm, dignified connotations, "esteeming" suits contexts where genuine, considered respect rather than passing enthusiasm is meant.
Present participle and gerund of "esteem": to respect, admire, or value highly.
"Esteeming tradition more than fashion, the family kept every ritual intact."
Formal register; rare in everyday speech compared with the noun "esteem."
(Archaic) Present participle of "esteem": to consider or judge something to be a certain way.
"He was esteeming the risk negligible, though others disagreed."
Largely obsolete in contemporary usage; found mainly in older literature.
Before it meant admiration, "esteem" meant to set a price on something — so when you esteem someone, you are, quite literally, appraising their worth.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of esteeming
"Esteeming" comes from the verb "esteem," which English adopted from Old French "estimer," itself derived from Latin "aestimare," meaning to estimate, appraise, or fix the value of a thing. The word entered English in the late Middle Ages, originally carrying both the commercial sense of setting a price and the broader sense of judging worth, which evolved into modern respect and admiration. It shares this Latin root with "estimate," "estimable," and "estimation." The older sense of mere judgment or opinion survives only in archaic usage.
Related word forms
How esteeming is actually used
"Esteem" is notably more at home as a noun (as in "self-esteem") than as an active verb; the progressive form "esteeming" is correspondingly rare and carries a distinctly formal, even literary register. In everyday speech, speakers usually prefer "respecting," "admiring," or "valuing."
Easily confused with esteeming
Though it shares a distant Latin root (aestimare), "extreme" means farthest from the center or most intense, while "esteeming" means regarding with respect — they are unrelated in meaning despite a faint phonetic echo.