as in laughing
to show mirth with an explosive vocal sound
everyone dutifully chuckled at the professor's intended jokes
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in smiling
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of chuckling
Jason Quick, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
So Cali sucked her teeth, chuckling.
—Bryan Washington, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2025
Forbes walked away chuckling to himself.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 17 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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
So Cali sucked her teeth, chuckling.
—Bryan Washington, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2025
Forbes walked away chuckling to himself.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 17 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chuckling
Verb
-
Adding to the action is a colorful, squirmy worm that will get kids laughing and moving.—
Pamela Brill,
Parents,
2 Oct. 2025
-
The three of us kids quickly unraveled, laughing uncontrollably.—
Lizz Schumer,
PEOPLE,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
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
Adjective
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The post has also attracted over 181,300 likes and a flood of witty comments from amused users imagining the dog's thoughts.—
Lucy Notarantonio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
-
Lanthimos and cinematographer Robbie Ryan stage and shoot said home invasion like a Jacques Tati sequence — that is to say, from an amused, ironic distance that watches humans squirm and scramble without intervention.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The roughly five-minute sequence is shot in tight close-up on Day-Lewis, who oscillates between anger, pain and gleeful contempt.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
26 Sep. 2025
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Here, the tarantella is by turns gleeful and demonic — a frantic dance of the doomed, whirling through a mist of contemporary clangor.—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Eventually the in-studio warm-up comic, Don Barris, a jovial pro with a Taftian mustache, led a few applause drills.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
3 Oct. 2025
-
The call appeared to be jovial in nature, despite the pair's differences on one of the key discussion points at this week's General Assembly - Israel and Palestine.—
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Chuckling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chuckling. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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