Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use guffaw in a sentence

25 example sentences · noun, verb

Guffaw means a boisterous laugh. Example: “He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.”

Examples of guffaw by meaning

nounA boisterous laugh.

  • He walked to the edge and they heard his hoarse guffaw of laughter as the arrows clanged and clattered against his impenetrable mail.1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter XX, in Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, →OCLC
  • He heaved up with a sulfurous curse, braced his legs and glared about him, with a burst of coarse guffaws in his ears and the reek of unwashed bodies in his nostrils.1936, Robert E. Howard, chapter 15, in The Hour of the Dragon
  • When Time magazine named Ann Coulter among its 100 "most influential people" last week, alongside such heavyweights as Ariel Sharon, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Kim Jong Il and the Dalai Lama, the choice produced guffaws online.2005 April 19, Eric Boehlert, “Time hearts Ann Coulter”, in Salon, archived from the original on 17 May 2006

verbTo laugh boisterously.

  • Peter, on the contrary, threw back his head and guffawed thunderously.1900, Stephen Crane, The Knife

More sentences with guffaw

  • He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.From the entry dig
  • He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.From the entry dig
  • I actually guffawed when I heard that the guy from The Apprentice was running for president.2021 April 1, Michael Harriot, “If You're Black, Every Day Is April Fools”, in The Root. From the entry hoodwinkery
  • Not laugh, but guffaw, which is defined as loud, raucous laughter.2012, Jeni Decker, I Wish I Were Engulfed in Flames. From the entry netherregion
  • “Sometimes you can be such a stinker!” He blurted a guffaw.2012, William W. Johnstone, J. A. Johnstone, Judgment Day. From the entry stinkerdom
  • He had a sudden urge to laugh, to screech with laughter, to guffaw.2012 [1987], Rupert Thomson, Dreams of Leaving, reprint edition, A&C Black, →ISBN. From the entry spadeloads
  • At his father's quick guffaw he jumped back, trying to outlaugh him.1995, Myra Page, Moscow Yankee. From the entry outlaugh
  • The sailors surrounded him, laying hands on him, withstraining him, the while they guffawed and cheered.1914, Jack London, The Mutiny of the Elsinore, page 22. From the entry withstrain
  • The whole “broke my heart” thing caused me to guffaw.2012, Jeni Decker, I Wish I Were Engulfed in Flames. From the entry netherregion
  • Shakespeare is less keckhanded later: who does not smile (but not guffaw) at Henry V's nimble courting of Katherine?2008, Association d'humanisme et renaissance, Bibliothèque d'humanisme et renaissance: travaux and documents, volume 70. From the entry keckhanded
  • Meg gazed desperately across the room to where Monty was guffawing with mirth and stuffing into his mouth a cheeselet.1982, A[ndrew] N[orman] Wilson, chapter VII, in Wise Virgin, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published 1983, →ISBN, page 107. From the entry cheeselet
  • Rohan Batra threw back his head and guffawed.1978, Hugh Gantzer, Flashpoint!, Vikas, →ISBN, page 69, →ISBN. From the entry whom're
  • Others will alternately shake their heads and guffaw.1950 March, Francis Towner Towner Laney, “Fanzine Scope”, in Spacewarp, number 36, archived from the original on 24 Sep 2015, pages 10–17. From the entry fuggheaded
  • Bramley, still very much at the young-lion stage, guffawed lionesquely.1925, Paul Selver, Schooling, New York: Albert & Charles Boni, page 246. From the entry lionesquely
  • I spent the next frantic seconds (felt like a year, actually) trying to disentangle myself from the pole while the crowd and the contestants guffawed.2005 December 29, Diablo Cody, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, Gotham, →ISBN, →OL, page 26. From the entry shazbot
  • Then he guffaws and says, apparently to his partner but really across at her and loudly enough for her to hear: I don’t drink oxblood.1991, Christine Brooke-Rose, Textermination, New Directions Books, →ISBN, page 70. From the entry oxblood
  • We both said, well then, let's put together some of the Nabokovisms we've been guffawing ecstatically over behind our hand on this magical white night.1974, Carl R. Proffer, A Book of Things about Vladimir Nabokov. From the entry Nabokovism
  • But most readers will guffaw at the commentary from Messner's waifish young companion, Sabine Stehle ("to basecamp on three eight thousander expeditions").1968, American Alpine Club, The American Alpine Journal. From the entry eight-thousander
  • The boys teased her, guffawing rawly.1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 443. From the entry rawly
  • Bwahaha, they guffaw as they crush overheads into the corners with the same disdain they display when the clown ahead of them at the airport car-rental counter rents a Hyundai.2002, Dave Whitehead, The Tennis Junkie's Guide (to Serious Humor), page 41. From the entry bwahaha
  • Humorologists study humour and humourists, smile therapists believe in the therapeutic value of cheer and humoropathists promote a 'cacchination (guffawing) cure' for serious illness ('Vitamin C and Laurel and Hardy').2002 January 12, “What's the word?”, in The Guardian. From the entry humourist

Meaning of guffaw

  1. noun A boisterous laugh.
  2. verb To laugh boisterously.

Full definition of guffaw

Questions about guffaw in a sentence

How do you use guffaw in a sentence?
Guffaw is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.”
What is a short sentence with guffaw?
“The boys teased her, guffawing rawly.”
What does guffaw mean?
Guffaw means a boisterous laugh.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guffaw (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use guffaw in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/guffaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.