cheery
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cheery
Explanation
Something that's cheery makes you feel happy. A cheery summer day is sunny and bright. It's always fun to spend time with a cheery friend, one who is positive and happy, or to participate in some cheery activity, like watching a funny movie or having a picnic. Cheery things do exactly what they sound like — they cheer you up. You can also use cheerful to mean the same thing, and both words are rooted in cheer, from the Anglo-French chere, "the face," with its Greek root kara, "head."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the debut season, she’s one of the few remaining humans on Earth who is not part of a particularly cheery hive mind brought on by an alien virus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
She stops to talk, or shouts a cheery "Hi, you alright?" to nearly everybody passing on foot or by car.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Long after Massie left the stage, the mood around the hotel where his election night party was held stayed cheery.
From Slate ● May 20, 2026
But Ohm is such a misanthrope that he’d never go to a cheery beach resort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
The letter was from Dorothea, and it was very cheery and chatty—and it said that Dorothea and Nick had gotten married.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The band later had hits with much cheerier material, including "Friday I'm in Love".
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
For a club that talks about its European story it’s time they added some new and cheerier chapters.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2024
Some Americans do have a cheerier outlook now.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
Taken together they're the closest any of us will come to knowing what it's like to pass through a black hole and emerge in a cheerier existence.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2023
"It's only for three days," he observed in a cheerier tone.
From The Prodigal Father by J. Storer (Joseph Storer) Clouston
Their festive rush through the streets will make you fall in love with New York's cheeriest seasonal spots while longing for the moment when strangers Dash and Lily finally collide.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2024
Defence stocks rose, rarely the cheeriest sign from a human perspective.
From Reuters ● Sep. 21, 2022
Then the narrative became “It’s the cheeriest show you’ll ever see!”
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2021
Not the cheeriest sentiment, perhaps, but — just as with the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms — periodical cicadas do lend themselves to verse.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2021
I went up to the manager and said in my cheeriest voice, “Good afternoon. I am from the People’s Center summer camp, and I buy dinner groceries at this store.”
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
