gurgle
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
(of liquids, esp of rivers, streams, etc) to make low bubbling noises when flowing
-
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
-
gurglesimple
-
gurglessimple
-
have gurgledperfect
-
has gurgledperfect
-
am gurglingprogressive
-
are gurglingprogressive
-
is gurglingprogressive
-
have been gurglingperfect progressive
-
has been gurglingperfect progressive
Past
-
gurgledsimple
-
had gurgledperfect
-
was gurglingprogressive
-
were gurglingprogressive
-
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
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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:
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
My stomach starts to gurgle, and I feel sweat forming on my forehead.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
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 also sound very different — while humpback whales are known for their haunting songs, gray whales make gurgles, grunts and croaks.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
The baby came to life then and she could hear it, could hear its hungry grunts, its gurgles and jabbering.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
His 3-year-old son chewed on a piece of cake while the baby gurgled and continued to bounce nearby.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2021
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
She recalls trying to say “stop what are you doing,” but it came out as a gurgled mess.
From The Verge ● Nov. 29, 2017
“L.A. at that time must have been like Paris at the turn of the century,” mused book club member Aida Jones as a three-tiered fountain gurgled from the other end of a spacious patio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2017
The Apurimac River, the Great Speaker, gurgled far below along the base of Machu Picchu mountain.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
There were gurgling, cooing, month-and-a-half old newborns in Brooklyn and Westchester who had never known the soul-emptying pain of a crushing Knicks defeat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 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
The court heard how fire crews were alerted to the presence of a woman by a gurgling sound.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024
The inability to belch can cause bloating, pain, gurgling in the neck and chest, and excessive flatulence as built-up air seeks an alternate exit route.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2024
First, we went behind the house and between two banks of azaleas we found Rattling Brook, gurgling and bouncing topsy-turvy over stones.
From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz
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.
