cherish

Syllables: cher·ishUK/ˈt͡ʃɛɹɪʃ/

cherish verb: to treat with affection, care, and tenderness; to nurture or protect with care.

Verb

cherish (third-person singular simple present cherishes, present participle cherishing, simple past and past participle cherished)

To treat with affection, care, and tenderness; to nurture or protect with care.
- [T]he ſame Sun vvhich only cheriſheth and gently vvarmes his Countrey men, halfe parboyle and tanne other people, and thoſe rayes vvhich ſcorch the aduſted ſoyles of Calabria and Spaine, only varniſh and guild the green hony-ſuckled plaines and hillocks of England; […]1642, James Howell, “Section XVII”, in Instructions for Forreine Travell. […], London: […] T. B. for Humprey Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], →OCLC, page 213
- But the parent, we will ſuppose, cheriſhes his child with an affectionate indulgent care, and with all the circumſpection and aſſiduity that nature requires, in his infirm helpleſs ſtate of infancy; aſſiſts and cheriſhes his underſtanding, in its tender growth does; his utmoſt, according to his...1752, James Foster, “Some Observations on the True Ground of the Duty of Parents towards Their Children, and on Its General Nature, and Offices”, in Discourses on All the Principal Branches of...
To have a deep appreciation of; to hold dear.
- I cherish your friendship.
- his long-cherished dream
Synonyms:

prize, treasure, appreciate, bedear, esteem, hold dear, think much of, value

Antonyms:

despise
(obsolete) To cheer, to gladden.
- And by the way, as was her wonted guize, / Her merry fitt ſhee freſhly gan to reare, / And did of ioy and iollitie deuize, / Her ſelfe to cheriſh, and her gueſt to cheare: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 21, page 262
- The webbe of our life, is of a mingled yarne, good / and ill together: our vertues would bee proud, if our faults / whipt them not, and our crimes would diſpaire if they / were not cheriſh'd by our vertues.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Synonyms:

elate, jollify, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer, fetch, cheer up

Proper noun capitalized: Cherish

Cherish

A female given name.

cherish meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

cherish in Urdu

to cherish, show kindness: نوازنا navāznā

cherish in Malayalam

to cherish, pamper: ലാളിക്കുക lāḷikkuka
to cherish, fondle: ഓമനിക്കുക ōmanikkuka

More languagesFewer languages

cherish in Kannada: ನೆನೆಪಿನಲ್ಲಿರಿಸು, ಕಾಪಾಡು, ಮಮತೆಯಿಂದ ಪೋಷಿಸು, ಲಾಲನೆ ಪಾಲನೆ ಮಾಡು
cherish in Sanskrit: भावयति bhāvayati, बन्धति bándhati, बध्नाति badhnā́ti, लड् laḍ
cherish in Tagalog: pangalagaan

Examples of cherish in a sentence

Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...
I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
We came under the influence of his [Mahadev Govind Ranade's] work and his thoughts, and we owe it to ourselves to show that his memory is to us a most cherished possession.1904 July 24, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, chapter III, in Speeches of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, 3rd edition, Madras: G. A. Natesan & Co., published...
We should cherish the life we live / Cherish the love, cherish the life, cherish the love / Cherish the love we have / For as long as we both shall live1985 May 10, Robert “Kool” Bell et al., “Cherish”, in Emergency, performed by Kool & the Gang:

All 40 example sentences with cherish

Synonyms of cherish

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

despise

All synonyms and antonyms of cherish

Forms of cherish

third-person singular present	cherishes
present participle	cherishing
past participle	cherished
past	cherished

Past tense of cherish: cherished

Origin of cherish

From Middle English charish, cherishen (“to have affection for, hold dear, treat kindly; to esteem, respect; to cherish; to take care of; to greet; to entertain, treat hospitably; to cheer; to encourage, incite”), from Old French cheriss-, chieriss-, extended stem of cherir, chierir (“to cherish”) (modern French chérir (“to cherish”)), from cher, chier (“dear, dearest”) (from Latin cārus (“beloved, dear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂- (“to desire, wish”)) + -ir (suffix forming infinitives of second conjugation verbs).

Words formed from cherish

Words that rhyme with cherish

perish

Questions about cherish

What does cherish mean?: Cherish means to treat with affection, care, and tenderness; to nurture or protect with care.
What is cherish in Tamil?: Cherish in Tamil is போற்று, பேணு. See Cherish meaning in Tamil.
How do you use cherish in a sentence?: Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.
What part of speech is cherish?: Cherish can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cherish?: Cherish is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɛɹɪʃ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of cherish?: The past tense of cherish is cherished.

Words near cherish in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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

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