appreciation

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

• noun Recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.
• noun A judgment or opinion, especially a favorable one.
• noun An expression of gratitude.
• noun Awareness or delicate perception, especially of aesthetic qualities or values.
• noun A rise in value or price, especially over time.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of setting a price or money value on real, personal, or mercantile effects.
• noun The act of estimating the qualities of things and giving them their due value; clear perception or recognition of the quality or worth of anything; sympathetic understanding.
• noun A rising in value; increase of value.
• noun In Scots law, the appraisement or valuing of poinded or distrained goods.

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

• noun A just valuation or estimate of merit, worth, weight, etc.; recognition of excellence.
• noun Accurate perception; true estimation
• noun A rise in value; -- opposed to depreciation.

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

• noun A just valuation or estimate of merit, worth, weight, etc.; recognition of excellence.
• noun Accurate perception; true estimation; as, an appreciation of the difficulties before us; an appreciation of colors.
• noun A rise in value;—opposed to depreciation.

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

• noun an increase in price or value
• noun a favorable judgment
• noun delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values)
• noun an expression of gratitude
• noun understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something