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Definition of "laugh" []

  • To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements. (verb-intransitive)
  • To show or feel amusement or good humor: an experience we would laugh about later on. (verb-intransitive)
  • To feel or express derision or contempt; mock: I had to laugh when I saw who my opponent was. (verb-intransitive)
  • To feel a triumphant or exultant sense of well-being: You won't be laughing when the truth comes out. (verb-intransitive)
  • To produce sounds resembling laughter: parrots laughing and chattering in the trees. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "laugh" in a sentence
  • "A man, to laugh well, must be an honest man -- mind, I say _laugh_: when Shakspeare says"
  • "… Is Wagner’s “Parsifal” his secret laugh of superiority at himself, the triumph of his last and most exalted state of artistic freedom, of artistic transcendence — is it Wagner able to _laugh_ at himself?"
  • "But intriguingly, it appears that the laughter of prehistoric people is echoed in the word laugh."