different between esteem vs compliment

English

Alternative forms

• æsteem (archaic)
• esteeme (obsolete)

Etymology

First at end of 16th century; borrowed from Middle French estimer, from Latin aestim? (“to value, rate, weigh, estimate”); see estimate and aim, an older word, partly a doublet of esteem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?ti?m/, /?s?ti?m/
• Rhymes: -i?m

Noun

esteem (usually uncountable, plural esteems)

1. Favourable regard.

Derived terms

• self-esteem

Translations

Verb

esteem (third-person singular simple present esteems, present participle esteeming, simple past and past participle esteemed)

1. To set a high value on; to regard with respect or reverence.

   • Will he esteem thy riches?

   • You talk kindlier: we esteem you for it.

2. To regard something as valuable; to prize.
3. To look upon something in a particular way.

   • Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

   • 1535, Edmund Bonner, De vera obedientia by Stephen Gardiner (Preface)

     Thou shouldest (gentle reader) esteem his censure and authority to be of the more weighty credence.

   • Famous men, whose scientific attainments were esteemed hardly less than supernatural.

   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. V, The English

     And greatly do I respect the solid character, — a blockhead, thou wilt say; yes, but a well-conditioned blockhead, and the best-conditioned, — who esteems all ‘Customs once solemnly acknowledged’ to be ultimate, divine, and the rule for a man to walk by, nothing doubting, not inquiring farther.

4. (obsolete) To judge; to estimate; to appraise

Synonyms

• (to regard with respect): respect, revere
• (to regard as valuable): cherish

Antonyms

• (to regard with respect): contemn, despise
• (to regard as valuable): scorn, slight

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “esteem”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Further reading

• esteem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• esteem in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Mestee, mestee

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French compliment, itself a borrowing of Italian complimento, which in turn is a borrowing from Spanish cumplimiento, from cumplir (“to comply, complete, do what is proper”). Doublet of complement.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?mpl?m?nt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?mpl?m?nt/
• Homophone: complement

Noun

compliment (plural compliments)

1. An expression of praise, congratulation, or respect.
   • c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act I, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] I met him

     With customary compliment; when he,

     Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling

     A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and

     So leaves me to consider what is breeding

     That changeth thus his manners.

   • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: T. Longman et al., 1796, Book 4, p. 65,^[2]

     [...] what honour that,

     but tedious waste of time, to sit and hear

     So many hollow compliments and lies,

     Outlandish flatteries?

   • 1782, William Cowper, “Table Talk” in Poems, London: J. Johnson, p. 37,^[3]

     Virtue indeed meets many a rhiming friend,

     And many a compliment politely penn’d,

2. (uncountable) Complimentary language; courtesy, flattery.
   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 25,^[4]

     He told the Captain, He was heartily sorry for his Misfortunes; tho’ in my Opinion that was nothing but a Compliment: For, as I found afterwards, he was more brutish, and dishonest, than most of the other Kings on the Island […]
3. Misspelling of complement.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:praise

Antonyms

• insult

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

compliment (third-person singular simple present compliments, present participle complimenting, simple past and past participle complimented)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To pay a compliment (to); to express a favorable opinion (of).
   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure

     Monarchs should their inward soul disguise; […] / Should compliment their foes and shun their friends.

2. Misspelling of complement.

Antonyms

• insult

Translations

See also

• complement

Catalan

Etymology

From complir. Cf. also Spanish cumplimiento, Latin complementum.

Noun

compliment m (plural compliments)

1. compliment

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French compliment, from Italian complimento, from Old Spanish cumplimiento.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?m.pli?m?nt/
• Hyphenation: com?pli?ment
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

compliment n (plural complimenten, diminutive complimentje n)

1. compliment

Derived terms

• complimenteus

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian complimento, itself a borrowing from Spanish cumplimiento, from Latin compl?mentum. Doublet of complément.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.pli.m??/

Noun

compliment m (plural compliments)

1. compliment (positive comment)

Derived terms

• complimenter

References

• “compliment” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology

From French compliment

Noun

compliment n (plural complimente)

1. compliment

Declension