gurgle
Americanverb (used without object)
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gurgles,
present (3rd person singular)
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gurgled,
past participle, past
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gurgling
present participle
verb (used with object)
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gurgles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gurgled,
past participle, past
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gurgling
present participle
noun
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gurgles
plural
verb
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(of liquids, esp of rivers, streams, etc) to make low bubbling noises when flowing
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to utter low throaty bubbling noises, esp as a sign of contentment
the baby gurgled with delight
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gurglesimple
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gurglessimple
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have gurgledperfect
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has gurgledperfect
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am gurglingprogressive
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are gurglingprogressive
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is gurglingprogressive
-
have been gurglingperfect progressive
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has been gurglingperfect progressive
Past
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gurgledsimple
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had gurgledperfect
-
was gurglingprogressive
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were gurglingprogressive
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had been gurglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gurgle
First recorded in 1555–65; compare Dutch, Middle Low German gorgelen, German gurgeln “to gargle”; akin to Latin gurguliō “throat”
Explanation
To gurgle is to make a sound like bubbling or splashing water. Not to be confusing, but when you gargle mouthwash, you probably gurgle. People gurgle when they say something (or make a noise) with an accompanying wet, gurgling sound. Your stomach might gurgle too, especially when you're hungry. And liquid itself gurgles, like a stream that gurgles over rocks or sweet iced tea that gurgles from a bottle into your glass. Experts aren't sure if gurgle is an imitative word, from the sound itself, or if it's rooted in Latin.
Vocabulary lists containing gurgle
Instead of "Said": Words That Sound Like What They Mean
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Lend Me Your Ears: Sound Words
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Ghost Boys
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Its tick was a low-key gurgle and the alarm a dignified two-bell chime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Toddlers who spot the coolly bespectacled, gray-haired septuagenarian at an airport point and gurgle, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” thanks to Mothersbaugh’s painting segment called “Mark’s Magic Pictures” on the wildly popular kids show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
She expected to hear icebergs calving off the glacier—perhaps even the low, garden-hose gurgle of a subglacial river gushing out from underneath the glacier.
From National Geographic ● Sep. 7, 2023
But the last time I called, he could only gurgle on the phone, having suffered a stroke.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
I heard something like a splash and a gurgle.
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
When he meets adults he stares at them and takes them in, then kindly smiles and gurgles and lets them pat him, ruffle his hair, and take his face in their hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
"It's hard. It's really hard. We smile, yes, and thank goodness, I have a new grandson," Volodymyr's wife Vera says, as baby Yaroslav gurgles beside her on a play mat.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025
On a visit to a Texas ostrich farm, the researchers recorded 11 types of calls, ranging from high frequency peeps and gurgles in baby ostriches to low frequency boos and booms in adult males.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2024
They spent the night in cabins with no doors or windows, the better to let nighttime mountain breezes and the gurgles of the river lull them to sleep.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2023
From the ranks of the crawling babies came little squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
The waterway gurgled steadily, but the flow was not as violent as on Monday, when water spilled out on the adjacent Olive Mill Road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
One-year-old Dilesh gurgled happily, playing with others who work there, while Netam answered questions from Poyam: “What will the doctor ask me? Do I need documents? Can my husband come to visit me?”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Rock pigeons cooed and gurgled inside small crevices in the cave walls, marred in places by graffiti from long-ago visitors.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2021
In a dull and childless marriage to “a bastard of the standard-issue variety,” she is biding her time at Goode’s, her life “slipping away with the rinsing water as it gurgled down the plughole.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2020
Lady Constance delighted in each one, and she personally wrote countless prompt thank-you notes while the babies gurgled in their cradle.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Thankfully, there are often other cues as to the whereabouts of your fleshy foes, such as flickering lights and their awful, gurgling cries.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
On many tracks, he crafts a thickened variation on Bob Dylan’s wild mercury sound, with gurgling organ, touches of strings and horns, and evocative swells of pedal-steel guitar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
"There was a bubbly gurgling sound from Victoria," she told the court.
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
One Reddit user described the gurgling sound as an “alien trying to escape me,” and pain like a heart attack that goes away with a fart.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2024
When you flushed, you could hear the water gurgling down the pipes from the overhead box.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
