chuckle

verb

chuck·le | \ ˈchə-kᵊl

chuckled; chuckling; chuckles

Definition of chuckle

1 : to laugh inwardly or quietly He chuckled as he read the comic strip.

2 : to make a continuous gentle sound resembling suppressed (see suppress sense 5a) mirth the clear bright water chuckled over gravel —B. A. Williams

transitive verb

: to utter with a chuckle Templeton grinned. "I'll tend to this," he chuckled. He took Wilbur's tail in his mouth and bit it … . The pain revived Wilbur. —E. B. White

Other Words from chuckle Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about chuckle

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Other words from chuckle

chuckle noun

chucklesome \-səm

\ adjective

chucklingly \-iŋ-lē

\ adverb

Examples of chuckle in a Sentence

She chuckled at the memory of what he had said. everyone dutifully chuckled at the professor's intended jokes

Recent Examples on the Web

Officers chuckled at the scene unfolding at Camp Courant as part of its annual Law Enforcement Day on Wednesday. — Alison Kuznitz, courant.com, "Giving Back To Hartford Youth, Police Departments Statewide Attend 'Law Enforcement Day' At Camp Courant," 11 July 2018 Will the dream ever come true? Joan chuckles and protests the hard question. — Grant Segall, cleveland.com, "Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ties to Cleveland still strong 50 years after death," 4 Apr. 2018 Crash always needs to defeat the mad, chuckling Dr. Frankenstein clone, Dr. Neo Cortex. — Harold Goldberg, chicagotribune.com, "Classic games, lovingly reimagined in 'Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy'," 13 July 2018 Anthony sat there, smirking and chuckling with every reveal. — Ian Frisch, Longreads, "Anthony Bourdain and the Missing Piece," 9 June 2018 Browns QB candidate Josh Allen chuckles about his airball, but hopes to get the last laugh: Allen was able to laugh at his airball that was captured on video, but hopes to be mentioned among the great in 15-20 years. — Nathaniel Cline, cleveland.com, "Browns, NFL Draft 2018: Everything you need to know," 25 Apr. 2018 Francona chuckled during the mound visit to pull Perez, but the funniest moment was Perez doing his customary leap over the base line on the way to the dugout. — John Shea, SFChronicle.com, "Could Giants, other teams be cautious at trade deadline because of luxury tax?," 30 June 2018 The chef chuckled again, longer and louder than before. — Weike Wang, The New Yorker, "Omakase," 6 June 2018 Yankees manager Aaron Boone chuckled when discussing the fifth-inning play involving Torres, who committed the baseball sin of making the first out of an inning at third base. — David Ginsburg, courant.com, "Sonny Gray, Aaron Judge Carry Yankees Past Orioles," 1 June 2018

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