Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle.
- v. To utter a chortle or express with a chortle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To exclaim exultingly, with a noisy chuckle: a vaguely suggestive word used in the first passage quoted, and since taken up by other writers in the sense defined.
Wiktionary
- v. To laugh with a chortle or chortles.
- n. A joyful, somewhat muffled laugh, rather like a snorting chuckle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. A word coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), and usually explained as a combination of
chuckle andsnort .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a soft partly suppressed laugh
- v. laugh quietly or with restraint
Etymologies
- Blend of chuckle and snort.
Examples
“Although manteau = cloak and portmanteau = carry + cloak, "portmanteau word" was a coinage by Lewis Carroll, to refer to words like "chortle" chuckle + snort and so called because it resembled the Gladstone bag style of portmanteau, which has two equal compartments that fasten together in the middle.”
“I love that crazy guy who is sometimes on the bus who has a laugh that actually might fit the word "chortle".”
“chortle….cain’t here the word chortle without thinkin about, Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gire and gimble in the wabe.”
“It's just an aftershock, you chortle, even though it's the same size as the original and trying to tell the difference between the two is like telling the difference between Kardashians.”
The Wall Street Journal: Quake Advice: Keep Calm and Buy a Lemur
“With a chortle at the thought of Duke and the Dauphin making such a hash of the Bard, Eddie swung the wheel to the left, gunning the motor to pass the skull and all the morbid thoughts it brought him.”
“Still, GOP operatives in this town chortle that they will overcome their own party's chicanery with their secret weapon from the last election: Crossroads.”
The Huffington Post: J.B. Poersch: Note to GOP: We're Keeping the Senate
“With a chortle at my shocked expression, he drove away, taking the north road through the preserve.”
“The Bad Sex awards are something more than just a very British chortle at willies and bums.”
The Guardian: History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason – review
“I'm sorry that when those pictures were found and published by the sleazy, greasy little websites that feel they're performing some kind of public service by doing crap like this, everybody got together around the national water-cooler to cluck, whinny and chortle about how chubby and lackluster the woman turned out to be.”
The Huffington Post: Fortune's Stanley Bing: I'm With Arnold
“Alexander bit back his chortle at her annoyance, then gave a wry shake of his head.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chortle’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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portmanteaus
slithy, chortle, mimsy, galumph, maffluent, smog, motel, momentaneous, splisters, swifting, editated, splatter and 73 more...
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onomatopoeic
warble, quibble, quirk, drudgery, chortle, snicker, galumph, thwart, schlock, whimsy, garble, miffed and 25 more...
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I am : talking
"These are talking words," I announce. "You mean verbs that can be used for dialogue?" you ask. "That's right!" I agree.
say, speak, ask, declare, query, shout, yell, scream, shriek, squeal, squeak, screech and 81 more...
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Literary Coinage
Wonderful words or phrases authors have invented
jabberwock, thumbfumble, zippicamiknicks, gryphoemia, ansible, gloomth, grok, mimsy, nymphet, smee, runcible spoon, centrifugal bumbl... and 40 more...
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lou2050's list
chortle, crapulence, tomfoolery, salacious, cacophony, smock, gravitas, facetious, gargantuan, ubiquitous, preposterous
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words that just sound funny
maybe it's just me but these words are fun to say or make me laugh or smile
monangahela, sisyphus, schlub, sassafrass, lollapalooza, mulligrubs, hoity-toity, hashmagandy, zenzizenzizenzic, addlepated, nincompoop, brouhaha and 3 more...
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Funny Laughter Words
Words that speak humor
humor, laugh, funny, laughter, hilarity, guffaw, chortle, giggle, burst, hilarious, happy, chuckle and 66 more...
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essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
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Portmanteau words
Words created by blending the sounds and meanings of two pre-existing words.
(The older or the more commonly accepted/understood, the better IMO.)smog, tangelo, motel, telethon, blog, paratrooper, breathalyzer, internet, cremains, moped, chortle, camcorder and 4 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2536 more...
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persnickety parlance
ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe, timorous and 1027 more...
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Pretty Words
Pretty words that also have pretty meanings. They're special...add your own prettiness.
ethereal, ephemeral, scintillating, chortle, murmur, sigh, burblewall
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 2001
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
acclimate, stentorian, expeditious, proselytize, equable, sacrosanct, indefatigable, gravid, hyperbole, funereal, flibbertigibbet, vet and 353 more...
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Happy, happy, joy, joy.
Feel good words.
great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, exhilaration, exuberance, bliss, felicity and 95 more...
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