From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcheerleadercheer‧lead‧er /ˈtʃɪəˌliːdə $ ˈtʃɪrˌliːdər/ noun [countable] 1 DSa member of a team of young women who encourage a crowd to cheer at a US sports game by shouting special words and dancing She was a popular cheerleader at the University of Texas.2 someone who encourages other people to do something She was our cheerleader, teacher, and friend.
Examples from the Corpus
cheerleader• Find a real estate agent who will be a cheerleader for your property.• We had cheerleaders for varsity football and boys basketball and even junior varsity cheerleaders for both teams.• You have to be both jaunty cheerleader and lithe psychiatrist.• She was our cheerleader, teacher and friend.• a high school cheerleader• B, who is unofficial team cheerleader, perhaps the ultimate, all-time, hands-down cheerleader, takes the news in stride.• Um, and then after that we have the cheerleaders.• Unfortunately, only the cheerleaders were in evidence last night.• His press secretary even said that the Soviet Union was still a superpower - not at all what the cheerleaders think.From Longman Business Dictionarycheerleadercheer‧lead‧er /ˈtʃɪəˌliːdəˈtʃɪrˌliːdər/ noun [countable] American English informal someone who supports an idea, plan etc and tries to persuade other people to support itHe was one of the biggest cheerleaders of economic globalization. 