English Explanatory Dictionary

laughter

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
  2. 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.
  3. A reason for merriment.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈlɑːftə/ lăfʹtər /ˈlæftɚ/ en-us-laughter.ogg

Word forms

laughter laughters laughtre

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

laugh laughter

Related words

laugh smile yay!

Derived words

canned laughter clapter dying laughter dying of laughter evil laughter Homeric laughter horselaughter lack-laughter laughterful laughter is the best medicine laughterless laughter lines laughter padding laughtersome laughter track laughter yoga prelaughter underlaughter
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on L Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary