Warm respect and approval.
Warm respect and approval — esteem and pleasure in someone's or something's qualities.
The esteem pole of the family — more about respect and approval than affection. Directed at qualities, achievements, or virtues rather than at the whole person as a beloved, and it requires no warmth of love or any bond (one can admire a rival or a stranger). Cooler and more cognitive than the worshipful, love-laden adoration, and than the commitment of devotion or attachment. Overlaps adoration at the high end, but adoration adds reverence and love that admiration need not carry.
Early 15c. “wonder,” from Latin admiratio “a wondering at,” from admirari “regard with wonder” (ad- “at” + mirari “to wonder,” from mirus “wonderful”).
A documented shift from “wonder/astonishment” toward “esteem”: admiration entered English meaning “wonder” (matching admirari “to wonder at”), and the sense weakened since the 16th century toward “high regard, esteem,” which is now dominant — the “wonder” sense is archaic. No reliable recent-generation shift.