hiccup
Americannoun
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hiccups
plural
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a quick, involuntary inhalation that follows a spasm of the diaphragm and is suddenly checked by closure of the glottis, producing a short, relatively sharp sound.
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Usually hiccups. the condition of having such spasms.
She got the hiccups just as she began to speak.
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Informal. a minor difficulty, interruption, setback, etc..
a hiccup in the stock market.
verb (used without object)
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to make the sound of a hiccup.
The motor hiccuped as it started.
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to have the hiccups.
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Informal. to experience a temporary decline, setback, interruption, etc..
There was general alarm when the economy hiccuped.
noun
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Technical name: singultus. a spasm of the diaphragm producing a sudden breathing in followed by a closing of the glottis, resulting in a sharp sound
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the state or condition of having such spasms
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informal a minor difficulty or problem
verb
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(intr) to make a hiccup or hiccups
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(tr) to utter with a hiccup or hiccups
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hiccup
1570–80; alteration of hocket, hickock, equivalent to hic + -ock; akin to Low German hick hiccup; see hocket
Explanation
A hiccup is a jerky, repeated contraction in your diaphragm — it's a sort of involuntary tic you can feel in your throat and chest. People who have hiccups usually make a "hic" sound. Hiccups are a kind of spasm that can be brief or linger frustratingly. One man famously suffered from hiccups for 68 years — for that whole time, not a single folk remedy (doing a headstand, drinking water fast, being scared by someone, and so on) worked to relieve them. The word hiccup is imitative of the sound of hiccups. An Old English word for it was ælfsogoða, "elf heartburn," since hiccups were thought to be caused by elves.
Vocabulary lists containing hiccup
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 5–February 11, 2022
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Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 1
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Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 1
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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.
See Examples For:
The artificial-intelligence boom could see a hiccup, along with the torrent of capital spending that has kept deals flowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Any slight hiccup could spark selling, such as the words of a South Korean official.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
"If we do have a hiccup here and there that is also good to learn from."
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
But whether the chip industry is dealing with a minor hiccup or a big problem is still up in the air.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026
The occasional hiccup soon gave way to a soft snore.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Booking.com and sister brands like Priceline, Kayak and OpenTable are pouring hundreds of millions into AI tools to smooth out travel hiccups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
That means the company can little afford continued hiccups with Starship, the successor to SpaceX’s tried and tested Falcon 9 rockets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
SpaceX will aspire the next time around to execute a launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn of the booster offshore without hiccups.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
What 250 years means: It means that we’ve seen a lot of changes… progress with a lot of hiccups.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
It’s the kind of laughter that forces its way out like a bad case of hiccups.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were hiccuped and hiccupped.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2023
Both division rivals were heavy favorites Sunday and neither hiccuped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
Aníbal Sánchez finally hiccuped in the fifth, a long solo home run from Max Muncy which splashed down deep in the right-center field bleachers, but he’d delivered as much as the Nationals could have hoped.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2019
Even as Europe, particularly Greece, has struggled, the U.S. market has barely hiccuped.
From US News ● Nov. 6, 2015
Judy hiccuped as she tried not to laugh.
From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine
The 15-time major winner, 50, can be seen co-operating with authorities and then hiccuping while he is being driven away in the back of the police car.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
The hiccuping ultimately "escalated to…a good deal of hiccup-induced puking," he said.
From Fox News ● Dec. 11, 2021
In the many recent presidential live streams, Bolsonaro’s hiccuping is evident, and he has prefaced some appearances by acknowledging his hiccupping and disrupted speech.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2021
Others, though, would work on exams with hiccuping computers, at uncomfortable tables with other children or adults making noise nearby.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 27, 2021
I was in my gifted class when I started hiccuping, which made the others laugh.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
"The smallest things upset me. The other day I jumped when a woman in the street hiccupped as she walked past me."
From Fox News ● Dec. 5, 2019
He hiccupped in late April, allowing three runs in two innings, but the Nationals had seen what they needed to.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2019
Celeste hiccupped or burped and it turned into a small retch, but nothing came up.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 22, 2019
On this breezy late-August night, the police van hiccupped and bounced over the streets’ grooves and potholes.
From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2012
I opened my mouth, but Mama held her index finger in front of her lips in a “Shush,” so I just hiccupped again.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
If you are gargling at the same time that you are hiccupping, you might aspirate water.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
Or a friend might send me another sweet video of her newborn hiccupping.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2021
“I still write too many of her patented hiccupping, chicken-bone sentences,” said the L.A.-based writer and founder of Boyle Heights’ Libros Schmibros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2021
Lincoln was hiccupping a lot in the third trimester.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2021
You can imagine yourself brilliant as your sister, slower moving, quiet and thoughtful as your older brother or filled up with the hiccupping joy and laughter of the baby in the family.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
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.
