Library / English Dictionary

CACKLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

laugh; laughter (the sound of laughing)

Derivation:

cackle (emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Noisy talk

Synonyms:

cackle; chatter; yack; yak; yakety-yak

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

talk; talking (an exchange of ideas via conversation)

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

blether; chin music; idle talk; prate; prattle (idle or foolish and irrelevant talk)

Derivation:

cackle (talk or utter in a cackling manner)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The sound made by a hen after laying an egg

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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

cry (the characteristic utterance of an animal)

Derivation:

cackle (squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens)

cackly (like the cackles or squawks a hen makes especially after laying an egg)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

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

express joy; express mirth; laugh (produce laughter)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

emit; let loose; let out; utter (express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words))

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

gaggle (make a noise characteristic of a goose)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cackle (the sound made by a hen after laying an egg)

cackler (any of various insectivorous Old World birds with a loud incessant song; in some classifications considered members of the family Muscicapidae)

cackler (a hen that has just laid an egg and emits a shrill squawk)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Talk or utter in a cackling manner

Example:

The women cackled when they saw the movie star step out of the limousine

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue cackle

Derivation:

cackle (noisy talk)

cackler (a hen that has just laid an egg and emits a shrill squawk)

Credits