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cheer

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Being cheerful and dispelling gloom.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

chir
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtʃɪɹ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom

    “Flowers added a note of cheerfulness to the drab room.”

  2. uncountable

    A cheerful attitude; happiness; a good, happy, or positive mood.

  3. A cry or shout of approval

  4. countable

    A cry expressing joy, approval or support, such as "hurrah".

  5. now uncountable

    That which promotes good spirits or cheerfulness, especially food and entertainment prepared for a festive occasion.

  6. countable

    A chant made in support of a team at a sports event.

verb

  1. transitivefigurative

    To feel or express enthusiasm for (something).

  2. transitive

    To infuse life, courage, animation, or hope, into; to inspirit; to solace or comfort.

  3. transitive

    To gladden; to make cheerful; often with up.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom

Used this way, cheer is a common word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“Flowers added a note of cheerfulness to the drab room.”
Emotional tone
Slightly positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Common
Connotation
Positive and appreciative
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Usage note

It most often appears in the pattern “cheer to …”, which is worth copying when you use it.

Natural pattern: cheer to …

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use cheer

  • “The crowd cheered the demonstrating strikers.”verb
  • “She tried to cheer up the disappointed child when he failed to win the spelling bee.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

good cheergreat cheerchristmas cheerloud cheer

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • cheeringnounInflected form

    Encouragement in the form of cheers from spectators.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • cheerfuladjectiveDerived adjective

    Related to The quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom.

  • cheerfullyadverbDerived adverb

    In a cheerful manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • cheer upverbCompound term

    Cause (somebody) to feel happier or more cheerful.

  • bronx cheernounCompound term

    A cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.