MEANING
To hold someone or something dear and care about preserving it.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- cherish a memory
- cherish a friendship
On the page
She cherished the letter despite its faded ink.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- cherish
- Past tense
- cherished
- Past participle
- cherished
- Present participle
- cherishing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- cherish
- Present continuous
- am/is/are cherishing
- Present perfect
- have/has cherished
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been cherishing
- Past
- cherished
- Past continuous
- was/were cherishing
- Past perfect
- had cherished
- Past perfect continuous
- had been cherishing
- Future
- will cherish
- Future continuous
- will be cherishing
- Future perfect
- will have cherished
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been cherishing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: cherish; cherishes; cherished; cherished; cherishing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character, dialogue. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: cherishes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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