laugh

UK/lɑːf/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/lɐːf/

laugh noun: an expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.

Image: GRPH3B18, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

laugh (plural laughs)

An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
- And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.1803, Oliver Goldsmith, The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With an Account of His Life, page 45
- That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.1869, F. W. Robertson, Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics, page 87
Synonyms:

cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter, cachinnation
Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
- “And this rug,” he says, stomping on an old rag carpet. “How much do you suppose that cost?” ¶ It was my first guess, so I said fifty dollars. ¶ “That’s a laugh,” he said. “I paid two thousand for that rug.”1921, Ring Lardner, The Big Town: How I and the Mrs. Go to New York to See Life and Get Katie a Husband, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 73
- Life's a piece of shit / When you look at it / Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Synonyms:

joke, laughing stock
(New Zealand, UK) A fun person.
- a good laugh
- Outhwaite is a good laugh, yes, she knows how to smile: but deep down, she really is strong and stern.2010, The Times, March 14, 2010, Tamzin Outhwaite, the unlikely musical star

Verb

laugh (third-person singular simple present laughs, present participle laughing, simple past and past participle laughed)

(intransitive) To show mirth, satisfaction, or derision, by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face, particularly of the mouth, causing a lighting up of the face and eyes, and usually accompanied by the emission of explosive or chuckling sounds from the chest and throat; to indulge in laughter.
- There were many laughing children running on the school grounds.
- But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that her eyes ran ore.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
Synonyms:

cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, snicker, snigger, titter
(figuratively, intransitive, obsolete) To be or appear cheerful, pleasant, mirthful, lively, or brilliant; to sparkle; to sport.
- The green ſtem grows in ſtature and in ſize, / But only feeds with hope the farmer's eyes; / Then laughs the childiſh year with flow'rets crowned, / And laviſhly prefumes the fields around, / But no ſubſtantial nouriſhment receives, / Infirm the ſtalks, unſolid are the leaves.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Of the Pythagorean Philosophy. From the Fifteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob]...
- In Folly’s Cup ſtill laughs the Bubble, Joy; [...]1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle II, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 17
(intransitive) To make an object of laughter or ridicule; to make fun of; to deride; to mock.
- Don't laugh at my new hat, man!
- No Wit to flatter, left of all his ſtore! / No Fool to laugh at, which he valued more. / There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, / And fame, this lord of uſeleſs, thouſands ends.1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle III. To Allen Lord Bathurst.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 23, lines 311–314
(transitive) To affect or influence by means of laughter or ridicule.
- Will you laugh me aſleepe, for I am very heauy.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
(transitive) To express by, or utter with, laughter.
- From his deepe cheſt laughes out a lowd applauſe, [...]c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
- Fairfax addressed her as "my lady," she laughed her musical laugh, and glanced up at a picture of Gerald with eyes full of exultation.1866, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power

laugh meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

laugh in Hindi

show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds: हँसना hãsnā, हंसना hansnā

laugh in Tamil

show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds: சிரி ciri

laugh in Marathi

expression of mirth peculiar to the human species: हास्य hāsya
show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds: हसणे hasaṇe

laugh in Urdu

expression of mirth peculiar to the human species: ہنسی hansī
show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds: ہنسنا hãsnā

More languagesFewer languages

laugh in Bengali: উপহাস করা upohaś kora, হাসা haśa
laugh in Telugu: నవ్వు navvu, హసితము hasitamu
laugh in Malayalam: ചിരി ciri, പൊട്ടിച്ചിരി poṭṭicciri, പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിക്കുക poṭṭiccirikkuka, അട്ടഹസിക്കുക aṭṭahasikkuka
laugh in Kannada: ನಗು nagu
laugh in Punjabi: ਹੱਸਣਾ hassaṇā
laugh in Gujarati: હસવું hasvũ
laugh in Odia: ହସ hasa, ହସିବା hasibā
laugh in Sanskrit: हसति hasati
laugh in Sinhala: හිනා වෙනවා hinā wenawā
laugh in Assamese: হঁহা hõha, হাঁহা hãha, হাহোঁন hahü̃n
laugh in Nepali: हाँस्नु hā̃snu
laugh in Pashto: خندل xandᶕl
laugh in Tagalog: tawa
laugh in Arabic: ضَحْكَة ḍaḥka, ضَحِكَ ḍaḥika, ضحك ḍiḥik
laugh in Malay: ketawa, gelak, tawa
laugh in Indonesian: tawa, tertawa
laugh in Persian: خنده, خندیدن xandidan
laugh in Thai: ขำ kǎm, หัวเราะ hǔua-rɔ́
laugh in Vietnamese: tiếng cười, cười
laugh in Myanmar: ရယ် rai
Kashmiri: اَسُن asun

Examples of laugh in a sentence

His deep laughs boomed through the room.
Your new hat's an absolute laugh, dude.
The waves beside them danced, but they / Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:— / A Poet could not but be gay / In such a laughing company: […]1807, William Wordsworth, “[I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and...
If life seems jolly rotten / There's something you've forgotten / And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:
You will laugh at me, I know, but I really went in and paid a whole guinea for the stage-box.1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter IV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 71:
On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back1967, The Beatles, Penny Lane:

All 40 example sentences with laugh

Synonyms of laugh

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

laughing stock

Antonyms

cry
weep

All synonyms and antonyms of laugh

Forms of laugh

Noun
plural	laughs
alternative form	laff
alternative form	laughe
alternative form	larf
Verb
third-person singular present	laughs
present participle	laughing
past participle	laughed
past	laughed
second-person singular present (archaic)	laughest
second-person singular past (archaic)	laughedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	laugheth

Past tense of laugh: laughed

Plural of laugh: laughs

Origin of laugh

From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną. Cognates Germanic: Scots lauch (“to laugh”), Yola leeigh, leigh (“to laugh”), North Frisian laache, lachi, laake, loache, lååke (“to laugh”), Saterland Frisian laachje (“to laugh”), West Frisian laitsje (“to laugh”), Alemannic German lache (“to laugh”), Cimbrian lachan (“to laugh”), Dutch, German, and Low German lachen (“to laugh”), Luxembourgish laachen (“to laugh”), Yiddish לאַכן (lakhn, “to laugh”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish le (“to laugh”), Elfdalian läa (“to laugh”), Faroese læa (“to laugh”), Icelandic hlæja (“to laugh”), Norwegian Nynorsk le, læ, læja (“to laugh”), Crimean Gothic lachen (“to laugh”), Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hlahjan, “to laugh”). Indo-European: Breton kloc'h (“bell”), Irish clog (“bell; clock”), Manx and Scottish Gaelic clag (“bell”), Welsh cloch (“bell”), Russian клекота́ть (klekotátʹ), клокота́ть (klokotátʹ), клохта́ть (kloxtátʹ, “to cluck, cackle”).

Words formed from laugh

Phrases with laugh

28 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with laugh

Questions about laugh

What does laugh mean?: Laugh means an expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
What is laugh in Hindi?: Laugh in Hindi is हँसना (hãsnā), हंसना (hansnā). See Laugh meaning in Hindi.
How do you use laugh in a sentence?: His deep laughs boomed through the room.
What part of speech is laugh?: Laugh can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce laugh?: Laugh is pronounced /lɐːf/ (Australia).
What is the plural of laugh?: The plural of laugh is laughs.

Words near laugh in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: laugh (page history and authors); ನಗು (Kannada) (page history and authors); હસવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-laugh.ogg.

Cite this entry: “laugh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laugh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.