laugh

Laugh is defined as to express amusement with vocal sounds and facial movements.

(verb)

An example of laugh is someone making sounds to show they think something is funny.

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See laugh in Webster's New World College Dictionary

intransitive verb

  1. to make the explosive sounds of the voice, and the characteristic movements of the features and body, that express mirth, amusement, ridicule, etc.
  2. to be amused
  3. to feel or suggest joyousness; appear bright and merry: laughing eyes

Origin: ME laughen < OE hleahhan, akin to Ger lachen (OHG hlahhan) < IE base *klēg-, to cry out, sound > Gr klangē, L clangor

transitive verb

  1. to express or say with laughter
  2. to bring about, effect, or cause to be by means of laughter: to laugh oneself hoarse

noun

  1. the act or sound of laughing
  2. anything that provokes or is fit to provoke laughter
  3. Informal mere diversion or pleasure

Related Forms:

See laugh in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb laughed, laugh·ing, laughs
verb, intransitive
  1. To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements.
  2. To show or feel amusement or good humor: an experience we would laugh about later on.
  3. a. To feel or express derision or contempt; mock: I had to laugh when I saw who my opponent was.
    b. To feel a triumphant or exultant sense of well-being: You won't be laughing when the truth comes out.
  4. To produce sounds resembling laughter: parrots laughing and chattering in the trees.
verb, transitive
  1. To affect or influence by laughter: laughed the speaker off the stage; laughed the proposal down.
  2. To say with a laugh: He laughed his delight at the victory.
noun
  1. a. The act of laughing.
    b. The sound of laughing; laughter.
  2. Informal Something amusing, absurd, or contemptible; a joke: The solution they recommended was a laugh.
  3. Informal Fun; amusement. Often used in the plural: went along just for laughs.
Phrasal Verbs: laugh at To treat lightly; scoff at: a daredevil who laughed at danger.laugh off/away To dismiss as ridiculously or laughably trivial: laughed off any suggestion that her career was over.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English laughen

Origin: , from Old English hlǽhhan

Origin: , probably ultimately of imitative origin

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Related Forms:

  • laughˈer noun
  • laughˈing·ly adverb

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