cackle

[ kak-uhl ]

/ ˈkæk əl /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: cackle / cackling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), cack·led, cack·ling.

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

to laugh in a shrill, broken manner.

to chatter noisily; prattle.

verb (used with object), cack·led, cack·ling.

to utter with cackles; express by cackling: They cackled their disapproval.

noun

the act or sound of cackling.

chatter; idle talk.

QUIZ

GOOSES. GEESES. I WANT THIS QUIZ ON PLURAL NOUNS!

Test how much you really know about regular and irregular plural nouns with this quiz.

Question 1 of 9

Which of the following nouns has an irregular plural form?

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of cackle

1175–1225; Middle English cakelen; cognate with Dutch kakelen,Low German kakeln,Swedish kackla

OTHER WORDS FROM cackle

cackler, noun

Words nearby cackle

cacique, caciquism, cack, cackermander, cack-handed, cackle, cackleberry, cacky, caco-, cacodemon, cacodyl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use cackle in a sentence

A smile, wry and lopsided, grows into a chuckle — which then escalates to a cackle most improper.
18 Comics of Tomorrow|Sohini Das Gupta|August 1, 2021|Ozy
Just as familiar as her face to anyone who has watched TV or movies in the past 40 years are Smart’s dazzlingly deadpan line readings, her come-hither drawl and her signature sharp cackle.
‘Hacks’ delivers what audiences didn’t know they needed: Jean Smart in a starring role|Ashley Fetters|June 11, 2021|Washington Post
For most of the film I was too mortified to actually laugh out loud, but that one got a cackle from me.
Real Pilots Laugh at ‘Flight’|Patrick Smith|November 18, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Kabakov is the Beckett of the art world, creating silences and divorcing himself from the cackle.
Is This Anti-Soviet Art?|Jimmy So|October 22, 2011|DAILY BEAST

“I am wreaking a double vengeance,” writes Cellini, barely suppressing a cackle.
The First Celebrity Tell-All|Nathaniel Rich|September 22, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The latter, fastened by the legs to the rails of the wagons, kept up a deafening cackle.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman|Eugne Sue
When she heard a hen cackle she always ran to look for the nest, and one day she discovered one under the fruit-shed.
The Animal Story Book|Various
"Hold your—cackle," cried one, "he is going to sing;" and the whole party had their eyes turned with expectation towards the bird.
The Ontario Readers: Fourth Book|Various
Her hard but not unmusical laugh had given place to a grating cackle, and a leer of affected gaiety had replaced the merry eye.
The Life of Thomas Wanless, Peasant|Alexander Johnstone Wilson
How the young hens would giggle if I did, and how the old ones would cackle!
Little Folks (November 1884)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cackle

cackle

/ (ˈkækəl) /

verb

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

(intr) to laugh or chatter raucously

(tr) to utter in a cackling manner

noun

the noise or act of cackling

noisy chatter

cut the cackle informal to stop chattering; be quiet

Derived forms of cackle

cackler, noun

Word Origin for cackle

C13: probably from Middle Low German kākelen, of imitative origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cackle

Origin of cackle

OTHER WORDS FROM cackle

Words nearby cackle

Words related to cackle

How to use cackle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cackle

Derived forms of cackle

Word Origin for cackle