adoration

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of worship.
• noun Profound love or regard.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of paying honors, as to a divine being; worship addressed to a deity; the supreme worship due to God alone. In the Rom. Cath. Ch., adoration is applied to any one of three kinds of worship (though properly only to the first), namely: latria, or worship due to God alone; dulia, or the secondary worship paid to angels and saints directly, or through the veneration of relics and images; and hyperdulia, the higher worship paid to the Virgin Mary. The saints and the Virgin are adored as the friends of God, having intercessory power with him.
• noun Homage, or an act of homage, paid to one in high place or held in high esteem; profound reverence; the utmost respect, regard, or esteem; the highest degree of love, as of a man for a woman; heart's devotion.
• noun In art and archaeology: A representation of the adoration of the infant Jesus by the magi or the shepherds.
• noun A representation of the worship of an ancient divinity, of the deified dead, or of a king or an emperor. In Latin, adoratio.
• noun A method of electing a pope. See extract.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of playing honor to a divine being; the worship paid to God; the act of addressing as a god.
• noun Homage paid to one in high esteem; profound veneration; intense regard and love; fervent devotion.
• noun A method of electing a pope by the expression of homage from two thirds of the conclave.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun countable An act of religious worship.
• noun uncountable Admiration or esteem.
• noun uncountable The act of adoring; loving devotion or fascination.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a feeling of profound love and admiration
• noun the act of admiring strongly
• noun the worship given to God alone