chuckle

verb

chuck·le ˈchə-kᵊl

chuckled; chuckling; chuckles

Synonyms of chuckle next

intransitive verb

: to laugh inwardly or quietly

He chuckled as he read the comic strip.

: to make a continuous gentle sound resembling suppressed (see suppress sense 5a) mirth

the clear bright water chuckled over gravel—

B. A. Williams

transitive verb

: to utter with a chuckle

Templeton grinned. "I'll tend to this," he chuckled. He took Wilbur's tail in his mouth and bit it … . The pain revived Wilbur.—

E. B. White

chuckle noun

chucklesome

ˈchə-kᵊl-səm

adjective

chucklingly

ˈchə-kᵊl-iŋ-lē

adverb

Examples of chuckle in a Sentence

She chuckled at the memory of what he had said. everyone dutifully chuckled at the professor's intended jokes

Recent Examples on the Web After an excruciating loss in Chicago one night, Starr couldn’t help but chuckle. —

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 29 June 2024 By Spencer Nusbaum Listen 5 min Share Comment Save Before all this came about, Washington Nationals Manager Dave Martinez sat at a wooden desk in the visitors’ clubhouse in Denver and chuckled at the premise of a question. —

Spencer Nusbaum, Washington Post, 27 June 2024 Stevens and costar Will Catlett chuckle at the joke. —

Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 25 June 2024 Ustinov often seems to be amiably chuckling his way through all these murders. —

Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for chuckle

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chuckle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.