championing

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of giving fervent support to a person, idea, or cause.

   The senator's championing of voting rights came to define her career.

   Without the editor's tireless championing, the manuscript would never have reached print.

   Similarsupport, advocacy, promotion, backing

   Oppositeopposition

   Note

   Like many -ing nouns, it can be counted, and its plural is championings. David Braybrooke's Three tests for democracy (1968) writes of "the championings of a right," treating each act of advocacy as a separate thing that can be weighed on its own. The plural suits careful, analytical prose of that kind. Elsewhere the noun usually stays singular and names one person's sustained support for a cause.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of champion.

   Activists are championing reforms to make housing more affordable.

   By championing local farmers, the weekend market grew quickly.

   Note

   The -ing form keeps the verb's transitive grammar. It takes a direct object straight after it, with no preposition: championing reforms, championing local farmers. That object is what separates it from the noun for fervent support, which needs of, as in the championing of voting rights. The verb once also meant "to challenge," a sense now obsolete, so older texts may use championing for issuing a challenge rather than backing a cause.

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