Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Showing or suggesting good spirits; cheerful.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Showing cheerfulness or good spirits; blithe; gay; sprightly; jocund: as, a cheery tone of voice; always cheery and in good humor.
  • Having power to make gay; promoting cheerfulness; enlivening.
  • Synonyms Cheerful, Cheery. When cheerful means producing cheer, it is only by what seems distinct metonymy, as in such phrases as ‘the cheerful beams of the sun,’ ‘a cheerful fire.’ Cheery is coming into increasing use, representing cheerfulness in its more active forms or manifestations, and especially that cheerfulness which is contagious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Displaying evident cheerfulness; cheerful; lively; gay; bright; pleasant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective In a good mood, happy, cheerful

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He spoke in what he called his cheery way, but Beth had begun to feel that there was another word which would express his manner better, and now it occurred to her.

    The Beth Book Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius Sarah Grand

  • Kat, cheery is a good word -- it is a pretty nice thing to have greet me in the kitchen every morning!

    If there was any doubt that Christmas is coming... Michele 2007

  • The girl nodded, and as Microby Dandeline scrambled up over the wheel and settled herself beside her upon the board that served as a seat, she called a cheery good-by, and clucked to the horses.

    The Gold Girl 1921

  • From time to time I poked my head out into the rain, and called cheery encouragement to the reinforcements, or sent messages to Havelock - I remember one of them was that Delhi had fallen at last, and that old Johnny Nicholson had bought a bullet, poor devil.

    Fiancée 2010

  • The nurse called a cheery greeting to a young man in a beribboned cap, and he whistled in reply.

    The Mad Ship Hobb, Robin 1999

  • From time to time I poked my head out into the rain, and called cheery encouragement to the reinforcements, or sent messages to Havelock - I remember one of them was that Delhi had fallen at last, and that old Johnny Nicholson had bought a bullet, poor devil.

    Flashman In The Great Game Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1975

  • From time to time I poked my head out into the rain, and called cheery encouragement to the reinforcements, or sent messages to Havelock — I remember one of them was that Delhi had fallen at last, and that old Johnny Nicholson had bought a bullet, poor devil.

    Flashman In The Great Game Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1975

  • "Oh, come here this minute, every one of you," called a cheery voice, and Nina Earl stepped through an opening in the hedge.

    Dorothy Dainty's Gay Times Amy Brooks

  • Peggy and Polly hung over the rail calling cheery farewells to Durand and Lowell and telling the others that they would never forgive them if they did not win the trophy.

    Peggy Stewart: Navy Girl at Home

  • Marshal Stone called a cheery greeting, the while his horse dropped its head to drink.

    Heart of the Blue Ridge Waldron Baily

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