as in laughing
to show mirth with an explosive vocal sound
audiences might chortle gently during the movie's amusing bits, but there are few knee-slappers
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Recent Examples of chortling
The nightingale flew around the fox’s head, the two of them chortling in their own indiscernible ways.
—
Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
Against all of this allegedly heady stuff, the score—by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—intentionally jars us from encroaching drowsiness with chortling woodwinds and shardlike piano chords that are the aural equivalent of jagged Plexiglass off-cuts.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
Against all of this allegedly heady stuff, the score—by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—intentionally jars us from encroaching drowsiness with chortling woodwinds and shardlike piano chords that are the aural equivalent of jagged Plexiglass off-cuts.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chortling
Verb
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The next morning, the pair are chatting and laughing.—
Erin Vanderhoof,
Vanity Fair,
12 May 2026
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Sometimes laughing is better than crying.—
Lexi Lane,
PEOPLE,
9 May 2026
Verb
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Families with mothers in hijabs and giggling children sit alongside the neighborhood’s old guard and young transplants priced out of Brooklyn’s north, all feasting on great wheels of rashoosh (flatbread) and dishevelments of lamb.—
Ligaya Mishan,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
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On the chaise side of the sectional, Fiona and Izzy were giggling under a blanket, playing a makeover game on Fiona’s phone.—
Anna Wiener,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Baffert watched it all on his laptop from California, chuckling as the board showing the horse’s price flaked out momentarily.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
1 May 2026
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Flying cows, fiddle-playing cats, and chuckling retrievers inhabit the space between ornate columns.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
22 Apr. 2026
Verb
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On the night that everything changed, one of them would end the night screaming, and the other, in my opinion, didn't scream enough.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
11 May 2026
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Dramatic doorbell camera video shows the moment the man ran out of her home, and Cooper can be heard screaming in the background.—
Tara Lynch,
CBS News,
11 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chortling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chortling. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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