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
Wall Street didn’t agree with that cheery assessment.
From Barron's ● Apr. 17, 2026
It took Nina a moment, but then she picked out the Kerch flag and the cheery Haanraadt Bay pennant flying beneath it.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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
The conversations at the meet and grieve downtown contrast starkly with the cheerier, hopeful talk of the picket lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
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
Elizabeth saw that the more trouble clouded the brow of Nathan Hornby the cheerier and closer Aunt Susan drew to him.
From The Wind Before the Dawn by Munger, Dell H.
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
The cheeriest part of the school is the wellness center, with social workers, therapists, bean bag chairs and soothing paint colors.
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 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
Obiora’s letters are the cheeriest and the most irregular.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
