laugh
Americanverb (used without object)
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laughs,
present (3rd person singular)
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laughed,
past participle, past
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laughing
present participle
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to express mirth, pleasure, derision, or nervousness with an audible, vocal expulsion of air from the lungs that can range from a loud burst of sound to a series of quiet chuckles and is usually accompanied by characteristic facial and bodily movements.
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to experience the emotion so expressed.
He laughed inwardly at the scene.
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to produce a sound resembling human laughter.
A coyote laughed in the dark.
verb (used with object)
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laughs,
present (3rd person singular)
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laughed,
past participle, past
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laughing
present participle
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to drive, put, bring, etc., by or with laughter (often followed by out, away, down, etc.).
They laughed him out of town. We laughed away our troubles.
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to utter with laughter.
He laughed his consent.
noun
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laughs
plural
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the act or sound of laughing; laughter.
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an expression of mirth, derision, etc., by laughing.
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Informal. something that provokes laughter, amusement, or ridicule.
After all the advance publicity, the prizefight turned out to be a laugh.
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Informal. laughs, fun; amusement.
verb phrase
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laugh at
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to make fun of; deride; ridicule.
They were laughing at him, not along with him.
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to be scornful of; reject.
They stopped laughing at the unusual theory when it was found to be predictive.
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to find sympathetic amusement in; regard with humor.
We can learn to laugh a little at even our most serious foibles.
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laugh off to dismiss as ridiculous, trivial, or hollow.
He had received threats but laughed them off as the work of a crank.
idioms
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have the last laugh, to prove ultimately successful after a seeming defeat or loss.
She smiled slyly, because she knew she would yet have the last laugh on them.
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laugh up one's sleeve. sleeve.
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laugh it up, to laugh or joke in a hearty way.
He was laughing it up with his friends.
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laugh out of the other side of one's mouth, to undergo a chastening reversal, as of glee or satisfaction that is premature; be ultimately chagrined, punished, etc.; cry: Also laugh on the wrong side of one's mouthface.
She's proud of her promotion, but she'll laugh out of the other side of her mouth when the work piles up.
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laugh out of court, to dismiss or depreciate by means of ridicule; totally scorn.
His violent protests were laughed out of court by the others.
verb
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(intr) to express or manifest emotion, esp mirth or amusement, typically by expelling air from the lungs in short bursts to produce an inarticulate voiced noise, with the mouth open
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(intr) (esp of certain mammals or birds) to make a noise resembling a laugh
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(tr) to utter or express with laughter
he laughed his derision at the play
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(tr) to bring or force (someone, esp oneself) into a certain condition by laughter
he laughed himself sick
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to make fun (of); jeer (at)
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to read or discuss something with laughter
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informal I don't believe you for a moment
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informal to be unashamedly pleased at making a lot of money
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to show open contempt or defiance towards a person
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informal to laugh loudly and coarsely
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to laugh or have grounds for amusement, self-satisfaction, etc, secretly
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to show sudden disappointment or shame after appearing cheerful or confident
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informal to be in a favourable situation
noun
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the act or an instance of laughing
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a manner of laughter
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informal a person or thing that causes laughter
that holiday was a laugh
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the final success in an argument, situation, etc, after previous defeat
Synonym Usage
Laugh, chuckle, grin, smile refer to methods of expressing mirth, appreciation of humor, etc. A laugh may be a sudden, voiceless exhalation, but is usually an audible sound, either soft or loud: a hearty laugh. Chuckle suggests a barely audible series of sounds expressing private amusement or satisfaction: a delighted chuckle. A smile is a (usually pleasant) lighting up of the face and an upward curving of the corners of the lips (which may or may not be open); it may express amusement or mere recognition, friendliness, etc.: a courteous smile. A grin, in which the teeth are usually visible, is like an exaggerated smile, less controlled in expressing the feelings: a friendly grin.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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laughsimple
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laughssimple
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have laughedperfect
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has laughedperfect
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am laughingprogressive
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are laughingprogressive
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is laughingprogressive
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have been laughingperfect progressive
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has been laughingperfect progressive
Past
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laughedsimple
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had laughedperfect
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was laughingprogressive
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were laughingprogressive
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had been laughingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of laugh
First recorded before 900; Middle English laughen, Old English hlæh(h)an (Anglian); cognate with Dutch, German lachen, Old Norse hlǣja, Gothic hlahjan
Explanation
To let out a chuckle or giggle is to laugh: people laugh when something is funny. To chortle, cackle, guffaw, or titter is to laugh. The job of a comedian is to make people laugh. Often people laugh at things that aren't supposed to be funny, and people also laugh to be polite. If something is silly, you can say "That's a laugh!" If you had fun at a party, you can say "Thanks for the laughs." Everybody's laugh sounds a little different. It would be a shame if your laugh sounded like Elmer Fudd.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When Mary would gripe, she said, her dad would laugh or “just keep working.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
And then he did his Kawhi laugh all the way to the bank.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean says he used to set himself mini-challenges during matches "as a laugh".
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
“We just laugh about it,” a grinning Siegmund said about the article.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
She waited for somebody to laugh, but nobody did.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"But when you turn 15 or 16, and you're into boys, you're like, 'Oh, that's really naff. I don't want to be doing that any more'," she laughs.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
A charismatic speaker with a white mustache, Bhagwat raised laughs with the Chicago audience by saying Hindus don’t want to dominate; instead, he said, “We have to learn to work together separately.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
But not everything is whimsy and laughs when working with timeless cartoon stars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
"I have noticed it loves fried rice a lot! The way he eats up my fried rice leftovers - very voracious," laughs Promise.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Rue laughs and says, “You could just agree to join, you know. I love Black Alliance.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
“That was a funny part I laughed at,” he noted — but he still had to read them, just in case any seemed legitimate.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
He laughed and said instantly: “Your memory is correct.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“I have literally thousands of flowers I haven’t even touched yet,” she laughed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
"The minute they met, first they bonded over football," he laughed.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
We threw sticks for Bo, and we talked and laughed together and shared our relief that it had been Hugo and not Hannie that had caught us with her secret possessions!
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
Russell, who lines up second to Gasly, was laughing about it.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
I want to see Elizabeth James laughing on the set of a photo shoot, with her daughter helping to style the campaign—where motherhood doesn’t end when work begins, and the beauty is the blur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The Bayoumi who Ratchford saw was captured on his never-before-broadcast home movies - throwing a ball around with his family by the Parkwood pool, laughing when it drifted into the water.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
For someone for whom jokes were a constant, this was no laughing matter.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
He was laughing, that contagious smile going all the way up to his eyes.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
