laughing

[ laf-ing, lah-fing ]

adjective

1. that laughs or is given to laughter:

   a laughing child.

2. uttering sounds like human laughter, as some birds.
3. suggesting laughter by brightness, color, sound, etc.:

   a laughing stream; laughing flowers.

4. laughable:

   The increase in crime is no laughing matter.

noun

1. laughter.

Other Words From

• laughing·ly adverb
• un·laughing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of laughing¹

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; laugh, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

The Seattle entrepreneur, who also campaigned for Harris, said it grates on her to see people laughing in restaurants “as if nothing had happened.”

From Los Angeles Times

“I fell down, just boom, boom, boom,” he said, laughing at himself and flipping up his eye patch to reveal a sprawling bruise.

From Los Angeles Times

“We tried this Bob Dylan-y thing, like …” she rattles off a rapid-fire nonsense representation of “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “then we went through something more funky, more ironic, kind of Talking Heads,” she says, laughing.

From Los Angeles Times

"We played in prisons, high schools, birthday parties, parks, we played in bars that we were too young to be in. We played everywhere," Wahlberg said, laughing.

From Salon

Liberals laughing about the continued destruction of Palestine under Trump or cracking up at the thought of Trump voters with family members potentially deported have caved to the dark side.

From Salon

Related Words

• humorous