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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That a video of Sanders and Monken embracing and laughing made it to the team’s official social media pages was no coincidence.—
Zac Jackson,
New York Times,
3 Feb. 2026
-
Everyone’s laughing at the confessions until Emma speaks.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Aislynne had spaghetti and meatballs for her entree, which had her giggling with happiness and the table laughing along with her.—
David Ferrara,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
27 Jan. 2026
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Social media users, meanwhile, could not get enough of the two getting tipsy on-air and giggling through the night.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
2 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
In the front of the bus, Kilgo first started chuckling softly.—
Scott Fowler,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Jan. 2026
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When that happens, press play on these funny Hanukkah songs that will have the whole family chuckling.—
Fiona Tapp,
Parents,
16 Dec. 2025
Verb
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After National Guardsmen shot and killed four unarmed students at Kent State on May 4, 1970, Neil Young saw a Life magazine photo of a teenage girl screaming over one of the bodies and immediately wrote this song.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
1 Feb. 2026
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An astute writer, Aristidou avoids including a screaming match typical of stories like this.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chortling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chortling. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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