laugh

Formslaughs, laughing, laughed

Plurallaughs

1. 1
   show amusementverbintransitive

   To express amusement, satisfaction, or scorn through movement of the face and explosive or chuckling sounds from the chest and throat.

   Children laugh easily at the smallest surprises.

   The audience laughed for a full minute after the punchline.

   UsageUsually laugh at a joke, laugh about something afterward, or laugh out loud.

   Similarchuckle, giggle, chortle, guffaw

   Oppositecry, weep

   Note

   Its present participle works easily as an adjective, as in laughing children or Wordsworth's 'laughing company'. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Wordsworth used the phrase laughing company. britishlibrary.cn
2. 2
   the soundnouncountable

   An expression of amusement or mirth; the sound a person makes while laughing.

   A nervous laugh escaped him before he could answer.

   I would know that booming laugh anywhere.

   UsageA laugh is one outburst (a nervous laugh); laughter is the sound in general (full of laughter).

   Similarchuckle, giggle, chortle

   Note

   Adjectives cluster around it to say what kind of laugh it is: loud, hearty, booming, nervous. Goldsmith's line about 'the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind' shows how readily it serves as a judgment of character. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Goldsmith wrote the quoted words about the loud laugh. gutenberg.org
3. 3
   make funverbintransitive

   To make someone or something a target of ridicule; to deride or mock.

   Critics laughed at the proposal the moment it was unveiled.

   They laugh at anyone who dares to dream big.

   UsageUsed with at: laugh at someone or their ideas. Compare laugh with someone, sharing the joke.

   Similarscoff, jeer, sneer

   Note

   Context decides whether the laughter wounds. Laughing at a joke is simple amusement, while laughing at a person usually means ridicule, sharpest when done behind someone's back. In the passive, being laughed at is almost always unwelcome.

4. 4
   funny thingnouncountable

   Something that provokes amusement or scorn.

   The cheap special effects made the movie a laugh from start to finish.

   Their so-called security system was a laugh to anyone who looked closely.

   UsageOften That's a laugh!, meaning that is absurd, not that it is funny.

   Similarjoke, farce

   Note

   When Ring Lardner's character snaps 'That's a laugh' in 1921, he means that a guess is absurdly wrong, not that anything is funny. The scornful side of the meaning usually comes from context: an absolute laugh can be a joke or a disgrace. Monty Python's 'Life's a laugh and death's a joke' keeps both edges at once. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Lardner work containing the quotation, The Big Town, was first published as a book in 1921. storyoftheweek.loa.org
   • A character in Ring Lardner’s The Big Town says “That’s a laugh” in response to an absurdly low guess about a rug’s price. gutenberg.org
   • “Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke” is a Monty Python lyric. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   express by gigglingverbtransitive

   To express or utter something through laughter.

   They laugh their approval whenever the comedian pauses.

   She laughed a bitter answer and left the room.

   UsageThe object is what the laughter shows: laugh their thanks, laugh their approval.

   Note

   It often pairs with the noun from a single laugh in a cognate object, as in Louisa May Alcott's 'she laughed her musical laugh'. That pattern lets a writer describe the quality of the sound without adding a separate clause. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Louisa May Alcott wrote the work containing the quotation, Behind a Mask; or, a Woman's Power. gutenberg.org
   • The exact words 'she laughed her musical laugh' occur in the narration of Behind a Mask, describing Jean Muir. gutenberg.org

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