different between esteem vs obeisance

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

Alternative forms

• obeisaunce, obeissance, abaisance (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeïssance, derived from obeïssant (“obedient”), participle of obeïr (“to obey”), from Latin oboedire, obedire; ob- (“to, for”) + audire (“to hear”). Cognate with obedience.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o??be?s?ns/, /o??bi?s?ns/, /??be?s?ns/, /??bi?s?ns/
• Hyphenation: o?bei?sance
• Rhymes: -e?s?ns

Noun

obeisance (countable and uncountable, plural obeisances)

1. Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
   • 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales:

     But looking upwards in the blaze of the moon I suddenly saw colossi sitting near, and towering up and blotting out the stars and filling the night with blackness; and at those idols’ feet I saw praying and making obeisance kings and the days that are and all times and all cities and all nations and all their gods.

   • 1962, J. L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words (OUP paperback edition), p. 69:

     The situation in the case of actions which are non-linguistic but similar to performative utterances in that they are the performance of a conventional action (here ritual or ceremonial) is rather like this: suppose I bow deeply before you; it might not be clear whether I am doing obeisance to you or, say, stooping to observe the flora or to ease my indigestion.

2. An obedient attitude.

Usage notes

• Usually in the phrases do obeisance or make obeisance.

Translations

See also

• kiss someone's ring