资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Appreciate \Ap*pre"ci*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Appreciated};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Appreciating}.] [L. appretiatus, p. p. of
   appretiare to value at a price, appraise; ad + pretiare to
   prize, pretium price. Cf. {Appraise}.]
   1. To set a price or value on; to estimate justly; to value.

            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.

资料来源 : WordNet®

appreciated
     adj 1: giving pleasure or satisfaction [syn: {gratifying}, {pleasing},
             {satisfying}]
     2: fully understood or grasped; "dangers not yet appreciated";
        "these apprehended truths"; "a thing comprehended is a
        thing known as fully as it can be known" [syn: {apprehended},
         {comprehended}]