What does laughing mean?
Laughing is the form of the verb laugh used when an action is happening at the same time as another action: someone is laughing while speaking, listening, or moving. In everyday use, it describes the act of expressing amusement, often through repeated vocal sounds. The form can also be used attributively, as in a laughing child, laughing matter, or laughing stock. Its connotation is usually warm and positive, suggesting amusement, playfulness, or shared enjoyment, although context can make it critical when someone is being mocked or ridiculed. As a present participle, it is especially useful in continuous constructions such as 'He was laughing,' 'They burst out laughing,' and 'I couldn't stop laughing.' The related noun laughter names the sound or phenomenon of amusement, while laughable describes something capable of provoking laughter.
To express amusement with a vocal sound or sounds, especially repeatedly or uncontrollably.
"They were laughing at the joke for several minutes."
This is the present participle of laugh and normally appears in continuous or participial constructions.
Associated with laughter; causing laughter; or regarded with amusement.
"The comedian became a laughing stock after the performance."
The attributive form is often hyphenated before a noun in American usage, as in 'a laughing audience.'
A laugh can begin as a simple release of breath, but it can also spread through a whole room as a shared signal of delight.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does laughing come from?
The word comes from the Old English verb hlæfhan, meaning 'to laugh,' which developed through Middle English laughen into modern English laugh. The present-participle form laughing follows the ordinary English pattern of adding -ing to a verb. Cognates exist in other Germanic languages, including Dutch lachen and German lachen, reflecting a shared Germanic origin.
Related word forms
How laughing is actually used
The form is formal in grammar but completely natural in ordinary speech. As an adjective, it is often hyphenated before a noun, as in 'a laughing audience,' when it describes a person or thing associated with laughter.
Easily confused with laughing
Laughing refers to the act of expressing amusement, whereas laughter is the sound or experience of laughing and can also refer to the general phenomenon of amusement.