Word.ws English Dictionary

you've got to laugh

you've got to laugh phrase: used when somebody sees the funny side to a tough situation, to remind not to take things so seriously.

Phrase

you've got to laugh

  1. Used when somebody sees the funny side to a tough situation, to remind not to take things so seriously.
    • The army teaches you to rely on yourself. It teaches you a whole lot of crap, like that some of those guys are real arseholes, and wouldn't stand a chance in the outside world. But you've got to laugh at that, man. It doesn't matter. It teaches you not to give a damn about anything, that nothing...2010, Arja Salafranca, The Thin Line

Questions about you've got to laugh

What does you've got to laugh mean?
You've got to laugh means used when somebody sees the funny side to a tough situation, to remind not to take things so seriously.
What part of speech is you've got to laugh?
You've got to laugh is a phrase.

Words near you've got to laugh in the dictionary

  1. you'uns
  2. you've
  3. you've got to be in it to win it
  4. you've got to be kidding me
  5. you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette
  6. you've got to laugh
  7. you've gotta be kidding me
  8. you've said a mouthful
  9. you'ven't
  10. you-all
  11. you-alls

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you've got to 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.

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Cite this entry: “you've got to laugh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/you%27ve_got_to_laugh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.