Meanings
verbroot for (third-person singular simple present roots for, present participle rooting for, simple past and past participle rooted for)
present singular third person roots for · participle present rooting for · participle past rooted for · past rooted for
- informaltransitiveTo support (a favored person, team, or result).
I'm rooting for my cousin's team.
2 more examples
I'm rooting for a happy ending to this story.
Homer, we can't root for one child over the other. You wouldn't like it if the kids played favorites with us.
1994 November 13, Mike Scully, “Lisa on Ice”, in The Simpsons, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner), production code 6F18
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Catalan animar
- animarencourage a favored person
Dutch supporteren
- supporterenencourage a favored person
Finnish kannustaa, kannattaa
- kannustaaencourage a favored person
- kannattaaencourage a favored person
French animer
- animerencourage a favored person
German sich einsetzen, propagieren
- sich einsetzenencourage a favored person
- propagierenencourage a favored person
- anfeuernencourage a favored person
Hungarian drukkol
- drukkolencourage a favored person
Irish tacaigh le
- tacaigh leencourage a favored person
Italian tifare, fare il tifo
- tifareencourage a favored person
- fare il tifoencourage a favored person
Japanese 〜を応援する
- 〜を応援する (wo ōen suru)encourage a favored person
Polish kibicować, dopingować
- kibicowaćencourage a favored person
- dopingowaćencourage a favored person
Portuguese animar, torcer
- animarencourage a favored person
- torcerencourage a favored person
Russian болеть, топить
- болеть (boletʹ)encourage a favored person
- топить (topitʹ)encourage a favored person
Spanish animar a, alentar a
- animar aencourage a favored person
- alentar aencourage a favored person
- apoyar aencourage a favored person
- hinchar porencourage a favored person
- hacer barraencourage a favored person
Swedish heja på, hålla på
- heja påencourage a favored person
- hålla påencourage a favored person
Ukrainian вболівати
- вболівати (vbolivaty)encourage a favored person
Cite this entry
APA
root for. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/root%20for
MLA
“root for.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/root%20for. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “root for,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/root%20for.
Source: root for on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.