LAUGH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does laugh mean? 

• LAUGH (noun)
  The noun LAUGH has 3 senses:

1. the sound of laughing

2. a facial expression characteristic of a person laughing

3. a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

  Familiarity information: LAUGH used as a noun is uncommon.

• LAUGH (verb)
  The verb LAUGH has 1 sense:

1. produce laughter

  Familiarity information: LAUGH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAUGH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The sound of laughing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

laugh; laughter

Hypernyms ("laugh" is a kind of...):

utterance; vocalization (the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "laugh"):

ha-ha; haw-haw; hee-haw; horselaugh (a loud laugh that sounds like a horse neighing)

titter (a nervous restrained laugh)

snicker; snigger; snort (a disrespectful laugh)

belly laugh; guffaw (a burst of deep loud hearty laughter)

giggle (a foolish or nervous laugh)

chortle; chuckle (a soft partly suppressed laugh)

cackle (a loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle)

cachinnation (loud convulsive laughter)

Derivation:

laugh (produce laughter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A facial expression characteristic of a person laughing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

his face wrinkled in a silent laugh of derision

Hypernyms ("laugh" is a kind of...):

facial expression; facial gesture (a gesture executed with the facial muscles)

Derivation:

laugh (produce laughter)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh

Context example:

even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point

Hypernyms ("laugh" is a kind of...):

humor; humour; wit; witticism; wittiness (a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter)

Meronyms (parts of "laugh"):

gag line; laugh line; punch line; tag line (the point of a joke or humorous story)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "laugh"):

blue joke; blue story; dirty joke; dirty story (an indelicate joke)

ethnic joke (a joke at the expense of some ethnic group)

funny; funny remark; funny story; good story (an account of an amusing incident (usually with a punch line))

in-joke (a joke that is appreciated only by members of some particular group of people)

one-liner (a one-line joke)

shaggy dog story (a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness)

sick joke (a joke in bad taste)

sight gag; visual joke (a joke whose effect is achieved by visual means rather than by speech (as in a movie))

belly laugh; howler; riot; scream; sidesplitter; thigh-slapper; wow (a joke that seems extremely funny)

Derivation:

laugh (produce laughter)

• LAUGH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they laugh    ... he / she / it laughs   
Past simple: laughed   
Past participle: laughed   
-ing form: laughing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Produce laughter

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

express joy; express mirth; laugh

Hypernyms (to "laugh" is one way to...):

express emotion; express feelings (give verbal or other expression to one's feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "laugh"):

bray (laugh loudly and harshly)

bellylaugh (laugh a deep, hearty laugh)

howl; roar (laugh unrestrainedly and heartily)

snicker; snigger (laugh quietly)

giggle; titter (laugh nervously)

break up; crack up (laugh unrestrainedly)

cackle (emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing)

guffaw; laugh loudly (laugh boisterously)

chortle; chuckle; laugh softly (laugh quietly or with restraint)

convulse (be overcome with laughter)

cachinnate (laugh loudly and in an unrestrained way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

cry (shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain)

Also:

laugh at (subject to laughter or ridicule)

laugh away; laugh off (deal with a problem by laughing or pretending to be amused by it)

Derivation:

laugh (a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter)

laugh (a facial expression characteristic of a person laughing)

laugh (the sound of laughing)

laughable (arousing or provoking laughter)

laugher (a person who is laughing or who laughs easily)

 Context examples 

But Silver laughed at him aloud and slapped him on the back as if the idea of alarm had been absurd.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The girls meantime spread the table, set the children round the fire, and fed them like so many hungry birds, laughing, talking, and trying to understand the funny broken English.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He laughed, I remember, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything to a woman, for she would have her way.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When Hansel and Gretel came into her neighbourhood, she laughed with malice, and said mockingly: “I have them, they shall not escape me again!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

DR. ILLINGWORTH (laughing): 'Beyond a doubt.'

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Ain't a bit scairt of you," Henry laughed.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But you heard an odd laugh?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He tossed it across with a laugh.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They were all in the best of spirits, and laughed and chatted together.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

You won’t find the laugh on your side, I promise you.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)