laughter
UK/ˈlɑːftə//ˈlæftɚ/
laughter noun: the sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
Noun
laughter (usually uncountable, plural laughters)
- The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
- Their loud laughter betrayed their presence.
- There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town.1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock
- A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, and of the whole body, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs.
- The act of laughter, which is caused by a sweet contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agitation of the vocal organs, is not merely, or totally within the jurisdiction of ourselves.1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC
- Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter.1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC
- A reason for merriment.
Proper noun capitalized: Laughter
Laughter (plural Laughters)
- A surname.
laughter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
laughter in Hindi
- sound (as) of laughing
- हंसी hansī, ख़ंदा xandā, खंदा khandā, हास hās
laughter in Tamil
- உரத்த சிரிப்பு, நகைப்பு, நகைப்பொலி, சிரிப்பு
laughter in Marathi
- sound (as) of laughing
- हास्य hāsya
laughter in Urdu
- sound (as) of laughing
- ہَنْسی hansī, خَنْدَہ xanda
More languagesFewer languages
- laughter in Bengali
- হাসি haśi
- laughter in Telugu
- హాసము hāsamu, హాస్యము hāsyamu
- laughter in Malayalam
- ചിരി ciri, ഇളി iḷi
- laughter in Kannada
- ನಗು nagu
- laughter in Punjabi
- ਹਾਸਾ hāsā, ਹਲਰਾ halrā
- laughter in Gujarati
- હાસ્ય
- laughter in Sanskrit
- हास hāsa
- laughter in Sinhala
- සිනාව sināwa, හිනාව hināwa
- laughter in Nepali
- हाँसो hā̃so
- laughter in Pashto
- خندا xandā
- laughter in Tagalog
- tawa, pagtawa
- laughter in Arabic
- ضَحِك ḍaḥik, ضِحْك ḍiḥk
- laughter in Malay
- ketawa
- laughter in Indonesian
- tawa, ketawa, gelak
- laughter in Thai
- เสียงหัวเราะ sǐiang-hǔua-rɔ́
- laughter in Vietnamese
- sự cười, tiếng cười
- laughter in Myanmar
- ရယ်မောခြင်း raimau:hkrang:
Examples of laughter in a sentence
- There was a loud hiccup from the back of the room and the class erupted in laughter.
- There were several loud hiccups from the back of the room, and the class erupted in laughter.
- He grew disenchanted with playing second banana and never getting credit for the laughter.
Synonyms of laughter
Forms of laughter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | laughters |
| alternative form | laughtre |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Laughters |
Origin of laughter
From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity, merriment”), Danish and Norwegian latter (“laughter”), Icelandic hlátur (“laughter”). More at laugh.
Words formed from laughter
Phrases with laughter
Words that rhyme with laughter
Questions about laughter
- What does laughter mean?
- Laughter means the sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
- What is laughter in Hindi?
- Laughter in Hindi is हंसी (hansī), ख़ंदा (xandā), खंदा (khandā). See Laughter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is laughter?
- Laughter can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce laughter?
- Laughter is pronounced /ˈlɑːftə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of laughter?
- The plural of laughter is laughters.
Words near laughter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: laughter (page history and authors); Laughter (page history and authors); laughter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); హాసము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഇളി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ನಗು (Kannada) (page history and authors); laughter (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); हाँसो (Nepali) (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-laughter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “laughter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laughter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.