chortle

verb

chor·tle | \ ˈchȯr-tᵊl

chortled; chortling\ˈchȯrt-liŋ,

ˈchȯr-tᵊl-iŋ \

Definition of chortle

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to sing or chant exultantly he chortled in his joy —Lewis Carroll

2 : to laugh or chuckle especially when amused or pleased She chortled with delight.

transitive verb

: to say or sing with a chortling intonation "… nothing whatever to worry about," he chortled merrily. —Kevin Myers

chortle

noun

plural chortles

Definition of chortle (Entry 2 of 2)

: a laugh or chuckle expressing pleasure or amusement a chortle of delight I hear a catbird's bubbling notes, sounding like the bird is half strangling itself to get them out, the rapid-tonguing chortle of a red-bellied woodpecker… —John P. Wiley Jr. The grin escalates into a chuckle, the chuckle to a chortle. —Robert Palm

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Examples of chortle in a Sentence

Verb

He chortled, “You're going to love this.” audiences might chortle gently during the movie's amusing bits, but there are few knee-slappers

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

His supporters could be heard chortling in the back row during testimony from one Liberian war victim. — Jeremy Roebuck, Philly.com, "Lawyers for Delco Liberian accused of hiding record of war crimes say convicting him won't change the past," 12 June 2018 Casey, a veteran pol, chortled and rubbed his hands together in glee upon hearing this. — Bill Torpy, ajc, "Torpy at Large: Casey at the bat, swinging at ‘illegals’ in Decatur," 4 June 2018 The main entertainment was Jimmy Buffett, bluff and chortling, on hand to promote his feel-good jukebox musical. — Matthew Schneier, New York Times, "Troye Sivan Is a New Kind of Pop Star: Here, Queer and Used to It," 10 May 2018 His liberal critics have chortled about the president’s stated desire to review a big bristling military parade in Washington in the near future. — Ed Kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "House Republicans Working to Give Trump His Military Parade," 4 May 2018 One of the others chortled; his friend explained: Dude, there’s, like, a legit Iranian sitting right there. — Rachel Z. Arndt, Longreads, "Rules for Departure," 11 Apr. 2018 Children ride their bikes to community pools and grow up listening to alligators chortle at night. — Jack Healy, New York Times, "Outspoken and Precocious, Florida Students Struggle With Loss When the Cameras Turn Off," 25 Feb. 2018 Her friends were offended, but Hader chortled through the bit. — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, "'SNL': Kate McKinnon skewers Sessions, DeVos," 18 Mar. 2018 At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, there was much chortling over the fact that Kohler had made a toilet with Alexa inside, so users could ask her to flush for them. — Libby Copeland, Curbed, "Home smart home," 14 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chortle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.