Word.ws English Dictionary

cheer

UK/t͡ʃɪə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/t͡ʃɪː/

cheer noun: a cheerful attitude; happiness; a good, happy, or positive mood. Also the pronunciation spelling of chair.

Noun (1)

cheer (countable and uncountable, plural cheers)

  1. (uncountable) A cheerful attitude; happiness; a good, happy, or positive mood.
    • I have not that alacrity of spirit, / Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. (uncountable) That which promotes good spirits or cheerfulness, especially food and entertainment prepared for a festive occasion.
    • a table loaded with good cheer
    • "And am I to meet my Mary at Moffat? Come away, little, dear, welcome body, thou blessed of heaven, come away, and taste of an auld shepherd's best cheer, and I'll gang foot for foot with you to Moffat, and my auld wife shall gang foot for foot with us too. I tell you, little, blessed, and welcome...1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet
  3. (countable) A cry expressing joy, approval or support, such as "hurrah".
    • Three cheers for the birthday boy!
    • A cheer rose from the crowd.
    Antonyms:
    boo
  4. (countable) A chant made in support of a team at a sports event.
  5. (obsolete) One's facial expression or countenance.
    • And soo on the morne they were alle accorded that they shold departe eueryche from other / And on the morne they departed with wepynge chere / and euery knyȝt took the way that hym lyked best1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “viij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII
    • Heraclitus taking pitie and compassion of the very same condition of ours, was continually seene with a sad, mournfull, and heavie cheere [translating visage], and with teares trickling downe his blubbered eyes.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 50, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
  6. (archaic) One's attitude, mood.
    • And anon he talked with them, and sayde unto them: be of good chere, it is I, be not afrayed.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark
    • The parents […] fled away with heavy cheer.1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC

Verb

cheer (third-person singular simple present cheers, present participle cheering, simple past and past participle cheered)

  1. (transitive) To gladden; to make cheerful; often with up.
    • We were cheered by the offer of a cup of tea.
    • ⁠How often shall her old fireside
      ⁠Be cheer’d with tidings of the bride,
      How often she herself return, […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXIX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 61
  2. (transitive) To infuse life, courage, animation, or hope, into; to inspirit; to solace or comfort.
    • The proud he tam'd, the penitent he cheer'd.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Character of a Good Parson; Imitated from Chaucer, and Inlarg’d”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To encourage to do something.
    • Let’s cheere our ſouldiers to incounter him, […]
      And burne him in the fury of that flame,
      That none can quench but blood and Empery.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  4. (ambitransitive) To applaud or encourage with cheers or shouts.
    • The crowd cheered in support of the athletes.
    • The crowd cheered the athletes.
  5. (figuratively, transitive) To feel or express enthusiasm for (something).
    • The finance sector will cheer this decision.
    Synonyms:
    hail, salute

Noun (2)

cheer (uncountable)

  1. (Canada, US) Cheerleading, especially when practiced as a competitive sport.
    • Alex participated in cheer all four years of college.
    • I'm going to wear my new cheer shoes at cheer today.

Also used as

cheer is also the pronunciation spelling of chair.

cheer meaning in Sanskrit, Tagalog, Malay and Persian

cheer in Sanskrit

to make cheerful
प्रीणाति prīṇāti

cheer in Tagalog

a cheerful attitude; gaiety
tuwa, saya

cheer in Malay

a cry of "hurrah", "hurray", "yeah", or some other word expressing joy
sorakan

cheer in Persian

a cry of "hurrah", "hurray", "yeah", or some other word expressing joy
هلهله halhale
More languagesFewer languages
cheer in Thai
เชียร์ chiia
cheer in Vietnamese
cổ vũ

Examples of cheer in a sentence

  • Welcome her, thunders of fort and of fleet! / Welcome her, thundering cheer of the street!1864, Alfred Tennyson, “A Welcome to Alexandria. March 7, 1863.”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 164:
  • ...[P]erspective [sic] gym cheer programs must address how to support a cheer program while maintaining appropriate and safe skill progressions.1999, Jim Lord, Chris Calvert., Cheerleading: Where Does Your Gym Fit In?:

All 40 example sentences with cheer

Synonyms of cheer

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of cheer

Forms of cheer

Noun
pluralcheers
Verb
third-person singular presentcheers
present participlecheering
past participlecheered
pastcheered

Past tense of cheer: cheered

Plural of cheer: cheers

Origin of cheer

From Middle English chere, from Anglo-Norman chere, from Old French chiere (“head, face; appearance; reception, hospitality; meal, dinner, food”) (Modern French chère), from Late Latin cara (“head”).

Clipping of cheerleading.

Words formed from cheer

Phrases with cheer

Words that rhyme with cheer

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cheer

What does cheer mean?
Cheer means a cheerful attitude; happiness; a good, happy, or positive mood.
What is cheer in Sanskrit?
Cheer in Sanskrit is प्रीणाति (prīṇāti). See Cheer meaning in Sanskrit.
How do you use cheer in a sentence?
Welcome her, thunders of fort and of fleet! / Welcome her, thundering cheer of the street!
What part of speech is cheer?
Cheer can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce cheer?
Cheer is pronounced /t͡ʃɪə/ (UK).
What is the plural of cheer?
The plural of cheer is cheers.

Words near cheer in the dictionary

  1. cheepiest
  2. cheeping
  3. cheepings
  4. cheeps
  5. cheepy
  6. cheer
  7. cheer on
  8. cheer pheasant
  9. cheer pheasants
  10. cheer ship
  11. cheer squad

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cheer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cheer.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cheer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cheer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.