titter
/ˈtɪtə
/verb [no object]
Give a short, half-suppressed laugh; giggle: her stutter caused the children to titter...
- All dressed in lovely spring gowns, the young women giggled and tittered, no better than my twelve-year-old sister.
- Call me a cynic, but I tittered when I heard a rumour that a high street bank considering sponsoring student comedy shows.
- His daughter tittered behind her slim, white hand.
Synonyms
giggle, snigger, snicker, tee-hee, give a half-suppressed laugh, chuckle;
smirk, sneer, simper
noun
A short, half-suppressed laugh: there were titters from the gallery...
- While reading, I ranged from smiles to titters to outright belly laughs.
- In a truly democratic fashion, she encouraged comments from the gathering, all the time trying to poke fun at everything, and causing titters, chuckles and guffaws to break out intermittently.
- One possible reaction was laughter, although a very different laughter to the embarrassed titters of a modern school group when sex-ed comes around.
Synonyms
giggle, snigger, snicker, tee-hee, half-suppressed laugh, chuckle;
smirk, sneer, simper
Derivatives
titterer
- It was a rant I had heard before so I paid more attention to the titterers dancing than him.
- I do like to giggle with the gigglers and titterers but moving off is always as much as a pleasure as arriving.
- Sitting at the back of the house, an actress - who dishonestly announces that she is not an actress - chides the titterers for their embarrassment.
tittering
- I did, however, see them tittering, shrieking, guffawing and hooting with laughter at the madcap slapstick that has become the trademark of these two spiky-haired, South Yorkshire clowns.
- I wasn't really in the mood for all that visualisation, and if anyone suggests I take energy from the earth, I have to stop myself tittering.
- So why are men's magazines in Britain so largely devoted to a tittering schoolboy's understanding of life and laughter?
titteringly
- With that she rumbled out of the toilets, but returned thirty seconds later with a friend to peer in at the door and giggle titteringly.
- This would then explain why us bulls find it titteringly funny that you are still waffling on and on and on.
- What's more, his camera crew seemed to find the whole shameful business titteringly funny.
Origin
Early 17th century: imitative.