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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Always ready for fun, Rose enjoys laughing, moving and finding creative ways to express herself.—
The Star,
Kansas City Star,
10 Jan. 2026
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In a separate post that day, the CEO added two laughing emoji when quote-tweeting an image of a toaster with a bikini on it.—
Jennifer Zhan,
Vulture,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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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
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This is perfect for emergency organic kale runs or ripping around backcountry carvers with four giggling friends (or, in this author’s case, one friend and three ebullient toddlers in car seats).—
Sean Evans,
Robb Report,
23 Dec. 2025
Verb
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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
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Somewhere, Dan Lanning had to be chuckling at that one.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
29 Nov. 2025
Verb
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According to the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched in November to a residence in the Linville community of Marion after a caller reported a neighbor standing in their driveway screaming and refusing to leave the property despite having been warned previously.—
Jasmine Baehr,
FOXNews.com,
9 Jan. 2026
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Avid viewers of The Studio will appreciate the callback to a watershed episode this season when Ice Cube, as himself, uttered the same to a room filled with screaming fans, causing a fresh headache for Seth Rogen’s backlot boss Matt Remick.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chortling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chortling. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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