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
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.
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Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chortling
Verb
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Adding to the action is a colorful, squirmy worm that will get kids laughing and moving.—
Pamela Brill,
Parents,
2 Oct. 2025
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The three of us kids quickly unraveled, laughing uncontrollably.—
Lizz Schumer,
PEOPLE,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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These religious Iranians are bad Iranians, presented here as blandly featureless aside from their obsession with controlling women, while Roya — with her giggling desire to meet Timothée Chalamet — is recognizably more western and therefore good.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
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Walker sat perched in the infamous red chair, covering her face and giggling as Brown delivered his signature body rolls.—
Amber Corrine,
VIBE.com,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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During the team’s media day on Monday, Yang spoke some English but in mid-sentence would revert back to Chinese, producing a mix of English and Chinese that leaves the affable 7-footer chuckling at himself.—
Jason Quick,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
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So Cali sucked her teeth, chuckling.—
Bryan Washington,
New Yorker,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Now, Darvish will get to pitch in front of a stadium of screaming, hopeful, nervous Cubs fans.—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
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There’s screaming electric guitar AND an orchestra.—
Marta Balaga,
Variety,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Chortling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chortling. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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