laughing 1 of 3

adjective

as in merry
indicative of or marked by high spirits or good humor the satisfying comedy put us in a laughing mood for the rest of the evening

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

laughing

2 of 3

noun

as in smiling

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Dissimilar Words

laughing

3 of 3

verb

present participle of laugh
1
as in giggling
to show mirth with an explosive vocal sound everyone laughed when the clown dramatically slipped and fell

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sneering
to express scornful amusement by means of facial contortions you're going to try out for the football team? Don't make me laugh!

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of laughing
Noun
A lot of shouting, a lot of laughing, a lot of talk. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 26 June 2026 The laughing and stuff wasn’t written into it. — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 5 Sep. 2025 Keith moved into the center of the balcony, posing and laughing. — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 19 June 2026 Mira and two friends moved to a low wall and huddled around their own smartwatches, whispering and laughing. — Anna Wiener, New Yorker, 4 May 2026 The former competitive cheerleader said the laughing was an act of misogyny. — Jay Stahl, USA Today, 24 Feb. 2026 The laughing becomes infectious. — Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2026 Harbour and Brown arrived together on the red carpet for the premiere of the latest season and were captured on camera laughing, hugging each other and posing for photos. — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025 Belt It Out at Sweet Caroline Karaoke Bar If your idea of a great date involves a little chaos, a lot of laughing, and maybe a surprisingly decent duet, Sweet Caroline Karaoke Bar is calling your name. — Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Verb
And superstar Lionel Messi got a kick out of that, laughing at the moment. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 2 July 2026 She also was seen smiling, laughing, and taking photos with visitors. — Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 2 July 2026 There are companies creating life-like avatars that can fill in for you in virtual meetings, nodding at the right time and laughing when someone tells a joke. — William Arruda, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 Everyone is singing, talking, laughing, enjoying food. — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 26 June 2026 Paul’s confidence was growing, and the left tackle seemingly responded to his challengers by laughing at their efforts in a mocking manner. — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 26 June 2026 Campos bursts out laughing — a regular occurrence — before returning to the story. — Jack Lang, New York Times, 5 July 2026 When some users suggested that the pictures were altered by AI, Decker simply dropped some laughing-crying face emojis. — Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 6 July 2026 This time, Arsenal popped City 5-1 and Gabriel very much enjoyed laughing and celebrating in Haaland’s face. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 5 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for laughing
  1. merry
  2. smiling
  3. giggling
  4. sneering
  5. jolly
  6. chuckling
  7. festive
  8. screaming
Adjective
  • Some may argue that the more the merrier applies as much to advocacy for social justice as to anything else.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 28 June 2026
  • When former President Barack Obama addressed the massive, merry crowd at the Obama Presidential Center dedication ceremony on June 18, a few lines landed like a balm.
    — Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 26 June 2026
Definition of merry
Noun
  • Karen Jesch, a PhD student at Boston College’s Canine Cognition Center, points out that human smiling is a strange behavior to begin with, and not always a happy one.
    — Niranjana Rajalakshmi, Popular Science, 14 May 2026
  • There was a lot of nervous smiling.
    — Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Definition of smiling
Verb
  • On a recent afternoon outside the temple in central Kerala, Raman stood motionless as two children played, giggling and hugging its trunk.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
  • Donna and Swift were seen hugging and giggling in their suite at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium alongside the singer's A-list pals.
    — Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026
Definition of giggling
Verb
  • Cassie’s OnlyFans adventures, for interest, were depicted with a kind of sneering derision toward the character’s poor judgement and lack of savvy.
    — Alison Herman, Variety, 1 June 2026
  • Newman’s God is laughing at our prayers, sneering at our cries for help.
    — Time, Time, 6 May 2026
Definition of sneering
Adjective
  • The problem was that plenty of officials from both the government and national association wanted in on the glory, piggy-backing on the team for a jolly trip to the World Cup.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • The Tar Heels went three-up, three-down in the sixth, but the next inning Gallaher and his teammates were having a jolly time on a clear and cool evening at Charles Schwab Field.
    — Eric Olson, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 June 2026
Definition of jolly
Verb
  • And The Rest Is Football(Netflix, YouTube) is the latest podcast to make the leap to the small screen, with former England internationals Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and the ever-chuckling Micah Richards serving up a daily helping of World Cup analysis alongside the usual chummy banter.
    — Jon O'Brien, Vulture, 10 June 2026
  • 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
Definition of chuckling
Adjective
  • By taking advantage of this ticket, park goers can enjoy the ongoing Disneyland Resort 70th anniversary celebration, which adds festive decor, limited-time activations, and specialty treats to commemorate seven decades of magic.
    — Carly Caramanna, Travel + Leisure, 6 July 2026
  • Perfumes Holy Berry Extrait de Parfum Holy Berry is a festive mix of red berries, oud, strawberry milk, and vanilla.
    — Reece Andavolgyi, InStyle, 6 July 2026
Definition of festive
Verb
  • From the outset of the selloff earlier this year, Jim Cramer was screaming from the rooftops that cyber should never have been lumped into run-of-the-mill enterprise software.
    — Zev Fima, CNBC, 7 July 2026
  • There were no vendors hawking bootleg royal-wedding merch, no screaming lines of fans, not even that many impromptu sing-alongs (some were solicited by journalists looking for content).
    — Zach Schiffman, Curbed, 6 July 2026
Definition of screaming

Browse Nearby Words

laughers
laughing
laughing (at)
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Cite this Entry

“Laughing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laughing. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on laughing

Nglish: Translation of laughing for Spanish Speakers

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