Home US English rah-rah

Definition of rah-rah in English:

rah-rah

Pronunciation /räˈrä/ /rɑˈrɑ/

adjective

informal North American

  • Marked by great or uncritical enthusiasm or excitement.

    • ‘many players were turned off by his rah-rah style’
    • ‘The former Cal coach maintains his rah-rah style that should work well with a team so heavy with rookies and second-year players that it resembles a college team.’
    • ‘Oh, he could handle the work, but his rah-rah style rubbed million-dollar linebackers the wrong way.’
    • ‘It's a virtual community, united by rah-rah chat groups in which program participants dish training tips and offer encouragement.’
    • ‘The rah-rah atmosphere seems particularly strange given that, according to employees, the bulk of prospective donors are elderly.’
    • ‘Reagan's casual, almost flirtatious insolence is instantly attractive, and very modern for a 1940 rah-rah epic.’
    • ‘The extras include a number of featurettes that are actually informative rather than just being rah-rah adverts for the movie you already purchased or rented.’
    • ‘By and large, the television reports were uniformly awful, in my opinion, with a rah-rah patriotism that television excels at.’
    • ‘Every time the rah-rah feeling in the country starts to wane, they come up with some way to get everyone to that boiling point again.’
    • ‘The corporate communications and public relations profession is remarkably quiet in all the rah-rah hype of blogging.’
    • ‘His rah-rah memos to the staff, exhorting them to higher greatness, fell flat on the page.’
    • ‘Given her five years languishing in rah-rah roles, Christensen was happy to unleash her inner bad girl.’
    • ‘I'm not the rah-rah type, that's not my personality, but I'll be giving it 100% and everyone on the team knows that.’
    • ‘He's not a rah-rah guy, but his play on the ice speaks pretty loud.’
    • ‘Barrel-chested and bombastic, he's always been the quintessential, larger-than-life, rah-rah leader.’
    • ‘We were hoping for a counterintuitive answer to this one - you know, some rah-rah exhortation that you shouldn't let a slow economy dull your ambitions.’
    • ‘He was intense, dedicated and had a strong desire to win a Super Bowl, but word out of Oakland is that many were growing tired of his rah-rah approach.’
    • ‘There's not a lot of rah-rah stuff with these guys.’
    • ‘Golf announcers, with too few exceptions, have always been on the rah-rah side, acting in the booth as cheerleaders for the players.’
    • ‘I don't give a lot of formalized speeches - I don't give the rah-rah stuff.’
    • ‘Collins is not a rah-rah guy, but teammates value his calm demeanor in the huddle and on the sideline even when things ate going haywire.’

noun

informal North American

  • Great or uncritical enthusiasm and excitement.

    • ‘the unflappably optimistic rah-rah among the Democrats’
    • ‘The administration's attempt to use personal relationships, loans and rhetorical rah-rah to nudge the country toward domestic reform simply has not worked.’
    • ‘He will do the usual rah-rah, maintain the economy has turned the corner and point to job growth in the past few months, claiming his tax cuts had something to do with that.’
    • ‘On this occasion, he served up the usual rah-rah about the war.’
    • ‘They prove that having plenty of corporate rah-rah isn't enough if the public isn't clamoring for your new toy.’
    • ‘And we're competing for our livelihood, so we don't need a lot of rah-rah.’
    • ‘If you come across, personality-wise, as someone sturdy and supportive, then guys who need a little rah-rah now and then will be attracted to you.’
    • ‘We've gone from the rah-rah of Capra to the cynicism of Kubrick, Coppola, Stone and, well, Kubrick again.’
    • ‘I mean, that kind of heart is more than just the rah-rah you hear about, OK?’
    • ‘This movie spends a little too much time on the rah-rah and the drama, and not enough on the blatant unrealities of this town.’

Origin

Early 20th century reduplication of rah.