cackle
Americanverb (used without object)
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to utter a shrill, broken sound or cry, as of a hen.
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to laugh in a shrill, broken manner.
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to chatter noisily; prattle.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the act or sound of cackling.
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chatter; idle talk.
verb
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(intr) (esp of a hen) to squawk with shrill notes
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(intr) to laugh or chatter raucously
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(tr) to utter in a cackling manner
noun
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the noise or act of cackling
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noisy chatter
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informal to stop chattering; be quiet
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cackle
1175–1225; Middle English cakelen; cognate with Dutch kakelen, Low German kakeln, Swedish kackla
Explanation
To cackle is to laugh in a loud, harsh way. Your dad's jokes might be so bad that they're funny, making you cackle every time. When you cackle, people hear you — it's annoying to sit in an otherwise quiet restaurant beside a table of people who talk and cackle raucously. The sound the cacklers make can also be called a cackle, a squawking laugh that a chicken might make. Experts think there may be a connection between cackle and the Middle Dutch word for "jaw," kake, but it's most likely to be imitative, a word that sounds just like the noise it describes.
Vocabulary lists containing cackle
The Crossover
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Ungifted
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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.
When I saw this image of the would-be Poot matriarch for the first time the other day, my first reaction was a hard cackle.
From Salon • Jun. 29, 2025
His career paths are hunter, forager or watchtower guard, but he seems more like the product of a progressive Montessori school, even with his dad urging him to cackle at shredded deer intestines.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2025
This invective is delivered with a sneer, a wink, and finally a cackle of laughter.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2025
“We come in here and all of our heads can look in like this and collaborate,” she said, adding with a kidlike cackle, “Isn’t it fun?”
From New York Times • May 2, 2024
Minny cackle but my heart go ten times faster.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
