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
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
Seven days quiz What wisecrack caused a titter before the Queen's Speech?
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2017
There was a titter through the crowd, but they did settle.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
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
He asked the audience for a show of hands for who had been to the Hampshire attraction, and after a few titters and an expression of "not enough" from the PM, he accelerated.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2021
James joined in the renewed titters, but the tips of his ears looked suddenly sunburned.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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
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
“You might be expecting me to say something bad about Kanye, and how he ran up on the stage and ruined my VMA . . .” she sang, as the audience tittered expectantly.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2019
Lady Constance sipped her coffee and tittered politely, although she showed no other sign of having been listening; in fact she seemed half asleep.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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
But I’ll admit the shtick often had me tittering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
And that, Youssef said in a half-joke that turned Stewart’s misty eyes to tittering ones, is why he was forced to flee Egypt.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2022
His run for president, announced two days earlier, came with an overnight makeover that had the City Hall press corps tittering: fresh navy sneakers, de-fuzzed sideburns, pants that fit.
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2019
I could see Deidre and Jilly tittering with excitement.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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.
