laughing
/ˈlɑːfɪŋ/
laughing is the verbal noun of laugh.
laughing is the present participle and gerund of laugh.
Meaning of laugh
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
- 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
- Synonyms:
- joke, laughing stock
- A fun person.
- a good laugh
Adjective
laughing (not comparable)
Synonyms of laughing
Forms of laughing
| plural | laughings |
|---|
Origin of laughing
From Middle English laughynge; equivalent to laugh + -ing.
Words formed from laughing
- burst out laughing
- die laughing
- laughing academy
- laughing boy
- laughing clown
- laughing death
- laughing dove
- laughing-eyed
- laughing falcon
- laughing gas
- laughing gear
- laughing-gear
- laughing goose
- laughing group
- laughing gull
- laughing heir
- laughing heir statute
- laughing hyaena
- laughing hyena
- laughing jackass
- laughing juice
- laughing kookaburra
- laughingly
- laughing owl
- laughing sickness
- laughing soup
- laughing stalk
- laughing stock
- laughingstock
- laughing-stock
- laughing tackle
- laughingthrush
- laughing thrush
- laughing turtle dove
- laughing water
- no laughing matter
- nonlaughing
- unlaughing
Phrases with laughing
- laughing at
- laughing off
- died laughing
- dies laughing
- laughing away
- laughing down
- laughing owls
- laughing with
- belly laughing
- dying laughing
- laughing doves
- laughing geese
34 more phrasesFewer phrases
- laughing gulls
- laughing heirs
- laughing hyæna
- laughing clowns
- laughing groups
- laughing hyenas
- laughing hyænas
- laughing stalks
- laughing stocks
- laughing falcons
- laughing hyaenas
- laughing thrushes
- laughing to scorn
- laughing academies
- Laughing Bird Caye
- laughing jackasses
- bursts out laughing
- laughing kookaburras
- bursting out laughing
- laughing like a drain
- laughing out of court
- laughing turtle doves
- laughing heir statutes
- laughing one's ass off
- laughing one's head off
- laughing in one's sleeve
- laughing up one's sleeve
- laughing in someone's face
- laughing all the way to the bank
- laughing on the other side of one's face
- laughing on the wrong side of one's face
- laughing on the wrong side of one's mouth
- laughing out of the other side of one's mouth
- time spent laughing is time spent with the gods
Words that rhyme with laughing
Questions about laughing
- What does laughing mean?
- Laughing means verbal adjective of laugh: the action of the verb to laugh.
- What is laughing the verbal noun of?
- Laughing is the verbal noun of laugh.
- What part of speech is laughing?
- Laughing is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce laughing?
- Laughing is pronounced /ˈlɑːfɪŋ/.
Words near laughing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: laughing (page history and authors); laugh (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-laughing.ogg.
Cite this entry: “laughing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laughing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.