jeer
1 Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
See scoff 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of jeer1
1555–65; origin uncertain; compare Old English cēir clamor, akin to cēgan to call out
Origin of jeer2
First recorded in 1485–95; origin uncertain
Explanation
As a noun, jeer is the act of scoffing, taunting, or mocking. Think of it as an anti-cheer. If you offer cheers for the visiting team and jeers for the home team, you might not be too popular in the stands. As a verb, jeer means to laugh at in a mean way. Even if you did forget the words to the national anthem, it wasn't polite for the crowd to jeer. But don't feel too bad: the last singer remembered all the words and they jeered her anyway! Tough crowd.
Vocabulary lists containing jeer
List 3
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Ghost
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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.
In U.A.E. villages near the Strait of Hormuz, such as Al Jeer, new posters show the Gulf monarchy’s ruler flanked by troops, jet fighters and helicopters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
PC Jeer had previously told the hearing he was "not in a good place" and had used the language to cope with the "issues" he had been experiencing.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2022
A tribunal heard PC Sukhdev Jeer and PC Paul Hefford, who worked at Bethnal Green police in east London, posted the messages on WhatsApp in 2018.
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2022
Both of these projects remind me of the New Republic’s 2015 mea culpa written by senior editor Jeer Heet.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2018
Her mother, Jeer, had been born in Africa and loved to tell her daughter and her friends stories of her childhood in a small village by a river and all the animals who lived nearby.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
