cackle

American  

[kak-uhl] / ˈkæk əl /

verb (used without object)

• cackles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cackled,
  past participle,  past
• cackling
  present participle

1. to utter a shrill, broken sound or cry, as of a hen.

2. to laugh in a shrill, broken manner.

3. to chatter noisily; prattle.

---

verb (used with object)

• cackles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cackled,
  past participle,  past
• cackling
  present participle

1. to utter with cackles; express by cackling.

   They cackled their disapproval.

noun

• cackles
  plural

1. the act or sound of cackling.

2. chatter; idle talk.

cackle British  

/ ˈkækəl /

verb

1. (intr) (esp of a hen) to squawk with shrill notes

2. (intr) to laugh or chatter raucously

3. (tr) to utter in a cackling manner

---

noun

1. the noise or act of cackling

2. noisy chatter

3. informal to stop chattering; be quiet

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cackler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cackles
  plural

Participles

• cackling
  present
• cackled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cackle
  simple
• cackles
  simple
• have cackled
  perfect
• has cackled
  perfect
• am cackling
  progressive
• are cackling
  progressive
• is cackling
  progressive
• have been cackling
  perfect progressive
• has been cackling
  perfect progressive

Past

• cackled
  simple
• had cackled
  perfect
• was cackling
  progressive
• were cackling
  progressive
• had been cackling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cackle
  simple
• will have cackled
  perfect
• will be cackling
  progressive
• will have been cackling
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cackle cackles cackled cackling

"His laugh was outrageously infectious. We all used to call it a cackle."

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Presiding over the baddies, Jared Leto’s blue-skinned, caped, literally boneheaded man-demon Skeletor is meant to be the fiercest of antagonists, but even his own henchmen find his signature evil cackle to be a bit laughable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

This show made me cry regularly, sometimes tears of joy, and also cackle aplenty.

From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2025

This invective is delivered with a sneer, a wink, and finally a cackle of laughter.

From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025

He would cackle with laughter and caper, if any jest was made, or even if Frodo spoke kindly to him, and weep if Frodo rebuked him.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

The potent Met chorus captured the shrieking cackles of the witches, the horror of the courtiers after Duncan’s murder, and the despair of the exiles fleeing Macbeth’s tyranny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

The red-headed fairy cackles, “Your hard work didn’t pay off!”

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025

All week I’d reveled in the cackles of leaf monkeys, hoots of gibbons, and barks of macaques, plus choruses of birds and frogs—all backed by the hums and whines of insects.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024

As we turn the corner into his office, the cheekily self-proclaimed “horror master” cackles at the sight that greets all who dare to enter: a life-size cardboard cut-out of “Believe”-era Justin Bieber.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2023

She grabs her head and pulls at her hair as she cackles.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

A troupe of local performers enacted boxing and wrestling matches as the crowd cackled.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

I laid on the couch and cackled like an idiot while my friends took no prisoners.

From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2025

As the people with microphones and notebooks pushed and shoved in a hot and muggy hallway--”We don’t air-condition the corridors in this county,” cackled one old observer--it suddenly became apparent.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025

And they cackled with glee watching the drama in Georgia.

From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2024

But Ma Charles seemed to enjoy Vonetta’s imitation and reared her head back and cackled.

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

I can practically hear those two cackling over their macchiatos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026

Those stereotypes might bring to mind images of black hats, broomsticks and cackling over cauldrons, common in much media.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025

In a memorable scene, she careens through town, shouting and cackling, dragging a tree behind her truck, which she sends flying through the glass front of the association headquarters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024

Squibb has played plenty of cackling grannies; even so, Ms. Sturak is her most unhinged.

From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2024

Raucous singing was borne toward them on the night air as they retraced their steps along the lantern-lit path, and leprechauns kept shooting over their heads, cackling and waving their lanterns.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Related Words

• giggle
• guffaw
• laugh