• laugh: express joy by making a sound, moving the face or body.
  She splashed water on Nick and we all began laughing.
• chuckle: laugh quietly, because you are thinking about something funny.
  What are you chuckling about? I don't see anything funny.
• giggle: laugh quietly and repeatedly because you are nervous or embarrassed.
  She spilt the wine on the tablecloth and then giggled nervously at me.
• give somebody the giggles: make somebody start giggling.
• titter: laugh quietly, unkindly at something embarrassing.
  After she ended the lecture, she heard someone tittering.
• snigger (UK) / snicker (US): laugh quietly, unkindly at something that is not supposed to be funny.
  When the teacher tripped on the steps, the boys sniggered.
• roar / howl / shriek with laughter: laugh very loudly.
  It was such a good comedy that when it finished, he was still roaring with laughter.
• chortle: give a loud chuckle of pleasure or amusement.
  When I told her the joke, she started to chortle with delight.
• cackle: laugh loudly in a high voice.
  When I told her the joke, she started cackling and couldn't stop!
• guffaw: laugh noisily.
  They guffawed at what their baby had done.
• jeer: laugh at somebody or shout unkind things at them.
  The president was jeered by a crowd of protesters.
• burst into laughter: suddenly start laughing.
  The class burst into laughter.
• laugh your head off: (informal) laugh a lot and loudly.
  He told us a joke after another, and we laughed our heads off!
• smile: make one's mouth curve upwards, in order to be friendly or because one is happy.
  As the boy left, he smiled at his mother and waved.
• beam: smile very happily.
  The mother looked at her son and beamed proudly.
• grin: smile widely.
  When she knew she had won the prize, she grinned broadly.
• simper: smile in a silly and annoying way.
  He simpered at the boys as he spoke.
• smirk: smile in an unpleasant way, to show that you are pleased by somebody's bad luck.
  The kids smirked when the teacher fell on the floor.
• sneer: smile in an unkind way, showing no respect for somebody.
  She sneered at his boyfriend's musical tastes.

Related idioms

• laugh in somebody's face: to behave in a way that shows no respect for others.
  I told her my opinion and she just laughed in my face.
• be laughing all the way to the bank: make a lot of money without making much effort.
• somebody will be laughing on the other side of your face: used to mean that although you are happy now, you will be in trouble later.
• be laughed out of court (US): be rejected because people think it is completely stupid.
  His idea was laughed out of court.
• laugh up your sleeve: be secretly happy because you played a trick on somebody or you criticized somebody without him knowing.
• laugh something off: pretend that something is less serious than it really is by laughing about it.
  The president laughed off rumors that he would resign.
• laugh like a drain: laugh heartily.
  John liked my joke so much, he laughed like a drain.

We thank María Celeste Navarro (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Francis Dixon-Clarke (from Sao Paulo, Brazil) for their contribution.

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