hiccup
Americannoun
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a quick, involuntary inhalation that follows a spasm of the diaphragm and is suddenly checked by closure of the glottis, producing a short, relatively sharp sound.
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Usually hiccups. the condition of having such spasms.
She got the hiccups just as she began to speak.
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Informal. a minor difficulty, interruption, setback, etc..
a hiccup in the stock market.
verb (used without object)
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to make the sound of a hiccup.
The motor hiccuped as it started.
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to have the hiccups.
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Informal. to experience a temporary decline, setback, interruption, etc..
There was general alarm when the economy hiccuped.
noun
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Technical name: singultus. a spasm of the diaphragm producing a sudden breathing in followed by a closing of the glottis, resulting in a sharp sound
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the state or condition of having such spasms
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informal a minor difficulty or problem
verb
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(intr) to make a hiccup or hiccups
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(tr) to utter with a hiccup or hiccups
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hiccup
1570–80; alteration of hocket, hickock, equivalent to hic + -ock; akin to Low German hick hiccup; see hocket
Explanation
A hiccup is a jerky, repeated contraction in your diaphragm — it's a sort of involuntary tic you can feel in your throat and chest. People who have hiccups usually make a "hic" sound. Hiccups are a kind of spasm that can be brief or linger frustratingly. One man famously suffered from hiccups for 68 years — for that whole time, not a single folk remedy (doing a headstand, drinking water fast, being scared by someone, and so on) worked to relieve them. The word hiccup is imitative of the sound of hiccups. An Old English word for it was ælfsogoða, "elf heartburn," since hiccups were thought to be caused by elves.
Vocabulary lists containing hiccup
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 5–February 11, 2022
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Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 1
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Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 1
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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:
In the case of AST, the launch hiccup delays the realization of its billion-dollar sales backlog.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
"If we do have a hiccup here and there that is also good to learn from."
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
From time to time, I saw a hiccup here, a little sluggishness there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
His only other hiccup came in the third inning, when he hit Jason Matthews with a stray breaking ball on a full count.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
I clenched my throat, but a hiccup burst through anyway.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
As Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, puts it, expect confusion and hiccups at the outset.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
What 250 years means: It means that we’ve seen a lot of changes… progress with a lot of hiccups.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
To brace for unexpected hiccups in your earnings or health, you need to plan for all scenarios rather than having a theoretical retirement date circled on your calendar.
From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026
In recent years his industry has encountered serious hiccups - affecting both of the world's most important coffee beans.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
The boy’s sobs softened to pitiful hiccups, then spiked again to shrieks as Leafie felt his arm.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Both division rivals were heavy favorites Sunday and neither hiccuped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
Aníbal Sánchez finally hiccuped in the fifth, a long solo home run from Max Muncy which splashed down deep in the right-center field bleachers, but he’d delivered as much as the Nationals could have hoped.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2019
As for Mr. Osborne, who hiccuped for almost 70 years, he learned to live with it after trying various remedies and seeing multiple specialists.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2019
Even as Europe, particularly Greece, has struggled, the U.S. market has barely hiccuped.
From US News ● Nov. 6, 2015
“Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus!” hiccuped Slughorn happily.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
The 15-time major winner, 50, can be seen co-operating with authorities and then hiccuping while he is being driven away in the back of the police car.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
And when he speaks, it’s in a slow, warbling singsong, at once contemplative and idiosyncratic, especially when he pauses in the middle of sentences as though his mind is hiccuping with existential thoughts.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2022
Every few seconds, the actor could he heard hiccuping between words as he talked to the camera.
From Fox News ● Dec. 11, 2021
In the many recent presidential live streams, Bolsonaro’s hiccuping is evident, and he has prefaced some appearances by acknowledging his hiccupping and disrupted speech.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2021
Ivy rested her head on Robin’s shoulder, hiccuping and not even bothering to wipe her face.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
"The smallest things upset me. The other day I jumped when a woman in the street hiccupped as she walked past me."
From Fox News ● Dec. 5, 2019
I longed for a phrase that simply grew, one note to the next, like a singer; instead the lines hiccupped or gasped, the vibrato intermittent or delayed.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2017
Just as notable is the fact that Future Brown sought out women like Shawnna, 3D Na’Tee, and Maluca, whose careers have hiccupped, often through little fault of their own.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 23, 2015
On this breezy late-August night, the police van hiccupped and bounced over the streets’ grooves and potholes.
From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2012
I nodded and hiccupped and sucked hard on the peppermint while the tears streamed down my face and my nose ran uncontrollably.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
“I still write too many of her patented hiccupping, chicken-bone sentences,” said the L.A.-based writer and founder of Boyle Heights’ Libros Schmibros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2021
His hiccupping went on for hours, and finally ended late that afternoon when their car broke down on the way to their honeymoon destination.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 24, 2021
Lincoln was hiccupping a lot in the third trimester.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2021
In the many recent presidential live streams, Bolsonaro’s hiccuping is evident, and he has prefaced some appearances by acknowledging his hiccupping and disrupted speech.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2021
Peach sniffed twice and cried a short hiccupping cry.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
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.
