Library / English Dictionary

LAUGH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter

Example:

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

Synonyms:

gag; jape; jest; joke; laugh

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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"):

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

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))

Derivation:

laugh (produce laughter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A facial expression characteristic of a person laughing

Example:

his face wrinkled in a silent laugh of derision

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

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

Derivation:

laugh (produce laughter)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The sound of laughing

Synonyms:

laugh; laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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"):

titter (a nervous restrained laugh)

snicker; snigger; snort (a disrespectful laugh)

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

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Produce laughter

Synonyms:

express joy; express mirth; laugh

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the next moment, with extraordinary quickness, he had unlocked the door and disappeared into the house.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Not fat old Louis, I promise you,” he laughed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They whispered together, and then they all three laughed—such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He saw Spitz run out his scarlet tongue in a way he had of laughing; and he saw François, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"Don't run away," she laughed. "I won't bite you."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I could not help laughing; but it was much more in the pleasure of seeing them, than at the appearance they made.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Our people, who discovered the cause of my mirth, bore me company in laughing, at which the old fellow was fool enough to be angry and out of countenance.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“My dear Victor,” cried he, “what, for God’s sake, is the matter? Do not laugh in that manner. How ill you are! What is the cause of all this?”

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) I can laugh and see the funny side of things.

(HADS - I Can Laugh and See Funny Side of Things, NCI Thesaurus)