To appreciate the motives of their enemies.
--Gibbon.
3. To raise the value of; to increase the market price of; --
opposed to {depreciate}. [U.S.]
Lest a sudden peace should appreciate the money.
--Ramsay.
4. To be sensible of; to distinguish.
To test the power of bees to appreciate color.
--Lubbock.
Syn: To {Appreciate}, {Estimate}, {Esteem}.
Usage: Estimate is an act of judgment; esteem is an act of
valuing or prizing, and when applied to individuals,
denotes a sentiment of moral approbation. See
{Estimate}. Appreciate lies between the two. As
compared with estimate, it supposes a union of
sensibility with judgment, producing a nice and
delicate perception. As compared with esteem, it
denotes a valuation of things according to their
appropriate and distinctive excellence, and not simply
their moral worth. Thus, with reference to the former
of these (delicate perception), an able writer says.
``Women have a truer appreciation of character than
men;'' and another remarks, ``It is difficult to
appreciate the true force and distinctive sense of
terms which we are every day using.'' So, also, we
speak of the difference between two things, as
sometimes hardly appreciable. With reference to the
latter of these (that of valuation as the result of a
nice perception), we say, ``It requires a peculiar
cast of character to appreciate the poetry of
Wordsworth;'' ``He who has no delicacy himself, can
not appreciate it in others;'' ``The thought of death
is salutary, because it leads us to appreciate worldly
things aright.'' Appreciate is much used in cases
where something is in danger of being overlooked or
undervalued; as when we speak of appreciating the
difficulties of a subject, or the risk of an
undertaking. So Lord Plunket, referring to an
``ominous silence'' which prevailed among the Irish
peasantry, says, ``If you knew how to appreciate that
silence, it is more formidable than the most clamorous
opposition.'' In like manner, a person who asks some
favor of another is apt to say, ``I trust you will
appreciate my motives in this request.'' Here we have
the key to a very frequent use of the word. It is
hardly necessary to say that appreciate looks on the
favorable side of things. we never speak of
appreciating a man's faults, but his merits. This idea
of regarding things favorably appears more fully in
the word appreciative; as when we speak of an
appreciative audience, or an appreciative review,
meaning one that manifests a quick perception and a
ready valuation of excellence.