laugh at

laugh

(lăf, läf)

v. laughed, laugh·ing, laughs

v.intr.

1. To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements.

2. To show or feel amusement or good humor: an experience we would laugh about later on.

a. To feel or express derision or contempt; mock: I had to laugh when I saw who my opponent was.

b. To feel a triumphant or exultant sense of well-being: You won't be laughing when the truth comes out.

4. To produce sounds resembling laughter: parrots laughing and chattering in the trees.

v.tr.

1. To affect or influence by laughter: laughed the speaker off the stage; laughed the proposal down.

2. To say with a laugh: He laughed his delight at the victory.

a. The act of laughing.

b. The sound of laughing; laughter.

2. Informal Something amusing, absurd, or contemptible; a joke: The solution they recommended was a laugh.

3. often laughs Informal Fun; amusement: went along just for laughs.

Phrasal Verbs:

laugh at

To treat lightly; scoff at: a daredevil who laughed at danger.

laugh off (or away)

To dismiss as ridiculously or laughably trivial: laughed off any suggestion that her career was over.

Idioms:

laugh all the way to the bank

To take glee in making money, especially from activity that others consider to be unimpressive or unlikely to turn a profit.

laugh out of the other side of (one's) mouth

To see one's good fortune turn to bad; suffer a humbling reversal.

laugh up/in (one's) sleeve

To rejoice or exult in secret, as at another's error or defeat.

[Middle English laughen, from Old English hlæhhan, probably ultimately of imitative origin.]

laugh′er n.

laugh′ing·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Verb

laugh at - subject to laughter or ridicule; "The satirists ridiculed the plans for a new opera house"; "The students poked fun at the inexperienced teacher"; "His former students roasted the professor at his 60th birthday"

bemock, mock - treat with contempt; "The new constitution mocks all democratic principles"

tease - mock or make fun of playfully; "the flirting man teased the young woman"

lampoon, satirise, satirize - ridicule with satire; "The writer satirized the politician's proposal"

debunk, expose - expose while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas; "The physicist debunked the psychic's claims"

stultify - cause to appear foolish; "He stultified himself by contradicting himself and being inconsistent"

laugh

verb

1. To express amusement, mirth, or scorn by smiling and emitting loud, inarticulate sounds:

2. To make fun or make fun of:

Chiefly British: quiz.

noun

2. Informal. Something or someone uproariously funny or absurd:

Translations

يَضْحَك مِن، يَهْزَأ من

vysmívat se

grine af

hlæja aî

laugh

(laːf) verb

to make sounds with the voice in showing happiness, amusement, scorn etc. We laughed at the funny photographs; Children were laughing in the garden as they played.

noun

an act or sound of laughing. He gave a laugh; a loud laugh.

ˈlaughable adjective

1. ridiculous or deserving scorn. Her attempts at drawing were laughable.

ˈlaughably adverbˈlaughingly adverb

as a joke. She suggested laughingly that he should try it himself.

ˈlaughter noun

the act or sound of laughing. We could hear laughter / the sound of laughter from the next room.

ˈlaughing-stock noun

someone who is laughed at. If I wear that hat, I'll be a laughing-stock.

laugh at

to make it obvious that one regards something or someone as humorous, ridiculous or deserving scorn. Everyone will laugh at me if I wear that dress!; The others laughed at his fears.