titter
Americanverb (used without object)
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titters,
present (3rd person singular)
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tittered,
past participle, past
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tittering
present participle
noun
verb
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(intr) to snigger, esp derisively or in a suppressed way
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(tr) to express by tittering
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tittersimple
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titterssimple
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have titteredperfect
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has titteredperfect
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am titteringprogressive
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are titteringprogressive
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is titteringprogressive
-
have been titteringperfect progressive
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has been titteringperfect progressive
Past
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titteredsimple
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had titteredperfect
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was titteringprogressive
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were titteringprogressive
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had been titteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of titter
1610–20; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse tittra to quiver, Swedish (dial.) tittra to giggle
Explanation
A titter is an awkward laugh at something that you shouldn’t be laughing at, like during dinner when Uncle Marvin makes a joke about your mother’s new hairstyle. If you try to hide your laugh, it’s probably a titter. A laugh that you can’t keep in but also can’t let out, that’s a titter. It usually happens in situations where you shouldn’t be laughing, like listening to your English teacher talk about a date he went on the night before, or when someone tells you a joke in a library. A titter is kinder than a snicker, less noticeable than a giggle, quieter than a chuckle, and way less fun than a chortle. Life’s a joke, laugh it up!
Vocabulary lists containing titter
Instead of "Said": Words for Upbeat Banter
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Gene Wilder (1933-2016) Tribute List
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The Lions of Little Rock
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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:
The crowd began to titter as Newman shaded his eyes, pretending to look into the stands for a challenger.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
The score, by Amelia Warner, announces when to titter and when to swoon.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2022
But titter not, lest you be tittered, it’s back tomorrow and the cold turkey will be brief.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 5, 2021
By the time the first half of the film had been unfolded yesterday the spectators were beginning to titter gently.
From Slate ● Dec. 31, 2019
I heard the first titter jump up in the air over my head, over the pulpit and out the window.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
In the Netflix film, Swan demonstrates with calipers on a life-size, anatomically correct male baby doll in a coffee shop to the nervous titters of the participants.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026
The upper keys were pressed to combine different types of laughter, from titters to belly laughs, and the foot pedals controlled the timing and duration of the laughter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
The titters would feel dismissive, except that they also fit the tone’s grand-scale terror.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
"And there was understandably a lot of titters, laughter and giggles - but it's starting to feel like a tangible thing that could actually come to fruition."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2025
Accustomed to seeing stiff, mortified contestants, the audience responded with uncertain titters.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
The point was that Bush lacked “moral courage,” Mr. Trudeau explained defensively, though more than a few readers must have tittered at the cruelty of his word choice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
At first the audience tittered, then chuckled, then laughed out loud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2022
Mainstays also include celebrities: British tabloids tittered for weeks over reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had spent an early date at one of the Soho Houses in London.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2021
But titter not, lest you be tittered, it’s back tomorrow and the cold turkey will be brief.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 5, 2021
In the back of the room someone tittered.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
I showed up not long after doors opened and was greeted by two lengthy lines of well-dressed people crowding the block, tittering with expectation, interacting with myriad Ramp employees identifiable by those yellow lanyards.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO—Alex Sorenson and Lizzie Silvers were about to tie the knot at an outdoor ceremony when a group of tipsy young men stumbled in out of the gloom, tittering at discovering nuptials in progress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Laughter can be subversive, of course, and one of the great satisfactions of these films is watching so many women laugh — often guffawing, not tittering — through one predicament after another.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
The mention of the aide’s name provoked a slight tittering in the audience of politicians and business executives.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2020
I could see Deidre and Jilly tittering with excitement.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
