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Showing results for root for. Search instead for root+for.
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.

Choosing a hero from a sample that large is “truly an art, not a science,” Schulman said, but Norman, like Gladden, possessed an “incredible decency and humanity that really makes you just root for them.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 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

Perhaps you’d like to be taken to dinner first, but “Pillion” is about Colin’s needs — specifically his need to please — and first-time feature filmmaker Harry Lighton challenges us to root for his bliss.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2026

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

From Salon • Feb. 1, 2026

“Yes. Yes, I do. Yes. I always want to be the winner. That’s what I do. I root for us to win. That’s what we all do.”

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

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.