cachinnate

American  

[kak-uh-neyt] / ˈkæk əˌneɪt /

verb (used without object)

cachinnated, cachinnating

1. Rare. to laugh loudly or excessively.

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cachinnate British  

/ ˈkækɪˌneɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to laugh loudly

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Other Word Forms

• cachinnation noun
• cachinnator noun
• cachinnatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of cachinnate

First recorded in 1815–25; from Latin cachinnātus “laughed aloud,” past participle of cachinnāre “to laugh aloud, laugh immoderately,” of imitative origin

Explanation

Cachinnate sounds like what it is: it's what you do when you laugh loudly, guffaw, or cackle, and probably embarrass or annoy everyone around you. Cachinnate isn't an everyday word, and you're most likely to come across it in literature — or on vocabulary tests. Cachinnate, comes from the Latin verb cachinnare, which also means "guffaw." Despite the word's ancient pedigree, it doesn't appear in English until 1824.

Example Sentences

Telegrams crackle, Joint Chiefs harrumph, orders arrive, engines clamor, machine guns cachinnate, and sure enough, the first dead man on Omaha Beach turns out to be-Garner.

From Time Magazine Archive

They reach at once and directly the instinctive sense of the ludicrous, and over them youth and age cachinnate together.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 37, November, 1860 by Various

Every time you take a full breath, or when you cachinnate well, the diaphragm descends and gives the stomach an extra squeeze and shakes it.

From Cheerfulness as a Life Power by Marden, Orison Swett