Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

root for

Idioms  

  1. Cheer on, give moral support to, as in The fans were out rooting for their team, or I've been rooting for you to get that promotion. This expression may come from the British verb rout, which is used of cattle and means “bellow.” [Late 1800s]

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.

“The audience needs to know who to root for, it needs to buy into the story, staying in character is super important.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026

"How talented he is and how well respected he is by his players, and what a great person he is, that just makes him someone you want to root for."

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026

“The hope is the audience cheers for him, right? They root for him,” Tartakovsky concluded.

From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026

Even Jets and Vikes fans would agree: It’s fairly impossible not to root for the guy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

There’s a small section of Irish who’ve come to root for Erin.

From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick

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.