Meaning & use
cheering
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“cheering” is a form of “cheer”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
Shouting loudly to show support, joy or approval.
Grammar: Used with or without an object: cheering the team, or the crowd was cheering.
Patterns
- cheering someone
- cheering for someone
- cheering on someone
The fans were cheering as the runners crossed the line.
We are cheering for our local team tonight.
The children kept cheering the clowns.
verbtransitive
Making someone happier or giving them hope.
Grammar: Takes an object, often with up: cheering up a friend.
Patterns
- cheering someone up
- cheering someone
Her visit is cheering my grandfather a lot.
I'm cheering up my sister with a surprise party.
The news was cheering everyone after a long day.
noununcountable
The sound of people shouting to show approval or joy.
Grammar: Uncountable: loud cheering.
Patterns
- the sound of cheering
- cheering from the crowd
The cheering could be heard for miles.
There was wild cheering when the band came on stage.
The room fell silent after the cheering stopped.
Word forms
| base form | cheer |
|---|---|
| third person singular | cheers |
| past tense | cheered |
| past participle | cheered |
Common combinations
- loud cheering
- Loud cheering filled the stadium.
- cheering crowd
- A cheering crowd welcomed the runners.
- cheering on
- We spent the morning cheering on the marathon runners.
- cheering up
- She spent the afternoon cheering up her friend.
- wild cheering
- Wild cheering greeted the winners.
Synonyms and how they differ
- applauding
- Applauding uses clapping, whereas cheering uses the voice.
- shouting
- Shouting is any loud calling, but cheering always shows support or joy.
- encouraging
- Encouraging may be quiet and ongoing, while cheering is loud and often short.
- comforting
- Comforting aims to soothe someone who is sad, while cheering up tries to make them happy.
Opposites
Word family
- cheer verb
- to shout approval, or to make someone happier
- cheer noun
- a shout of approval, or a feeling of happiness
- cheerful adjective
- happy and in good spirits
- cheerleader noun
- someone who leads cheers at sports games
Commonly confused: cheering or chairing?
cheering vs chairing
Chairing means leading a meeting as chair. It sounds similar, but it has nothing to do with shouting support.
Practice
The crowd stood up, ___ as the team walked onto the field.
Choose one answer.
Cheering means shouting in support. Chairing means leading a meeting, chearing is a misspelling, and cheated is a different past-tense verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cheering”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.