cheerleading

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noun

A physical activity and sport in which cheerleaders organize elements of dance, gymnastics, and tumbling for judgment or to cheer on a team.

Less commonScrabble 19
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Meanings

nouncheerleading (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehobbiesA physical activity and sport in which cheerleaders organize elements of dance, gymnastics, and tumbling for judgment or to cheer on a team.

    Since its inception in the late 19th century, cheerleading has evolved from yelling encouragement on the sidelines to a competitive hybrid of gymnastics, dance and acrobatics.

    2020 November 29, Tess DeMeyer, Ilana Panich-Linsman, “The College Athletes Who Are Allowed to Make Big Bucks: Cheerleaders”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    1 more example

    His [Jeff Webb's] move to make cheerleading more acrobatic drew criticism for making it more dangerous. The sport accounts for around two-thirds of all severe head and spinal injuries suffered by female athletes in the US, according to academic research published in 2022 in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine.

    2026 April 4, “Obituary: Texan who turned a US pastime into a serious sport”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5
  2. figurativelyuncountableAutomatic or servile praise.
verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of cheerlead

Origin

From cheerlead + -ing.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تَشْجِيع
  • تَشْجِيع (tašjīʕ)physical activity
Chinese Mandarin 啦啦隊 /啦啦队, 拉拉隊 /拉拉队
  • 啦啦隊 /啦啦队 (lālāduì)physical activity
  • 拉拉隊 /拉拉队 (lālāduì)physical activity
Finnish cheerleading
  • cheerleadingphysical activity
French cheerleading
  • cheerleadingphysical activity
German Cheerleading
  • Cheerleadingphysical activity
Hungarian vezérszurkolás, vezérszurkolóskodás
  • vezérszurkolásphysical activity
  • vezérszurkolóskodásphysical activity
  • cheerleaderségphysical activity
  • cheerleaderkedésphysical activity
Japanese チアリーディング
  • チアリーディング (chiarīdingu)physical activity
Korean 응원, 치어리딩
  • 응원 (eung'won)physical activity
  • 치어리딩 (chieoriding)physical activity
Russian черли́динг, чирли́динг
  • черли́динг (čerlíding)physical activity
  • чирли́динг (čirlíding)physical activity
Spanish animación, porrismo
  • animaciónphysical activity
  • porrismophysical activity
Cite this entry
APA

cheerleading. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheerleading

MLA

“cheerleading.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheerleading. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cheerleading,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheerleading.

Source: cheerleading on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.