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

Nevertheless, her presence is so compelling that we root for Ruth every time she’s onscreen.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 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

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

For decades, baseball fans in Seattle had to choose an eastern team to root for if they wanted a stake in the big leagues.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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.