to laugh it off
20
4.2
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
tomarlo a broma
- When he made that embarrassing mistake during the meeting, he just laughed it off to lighten the mood.
- tries to laugh it off
- just laugh it off
- laugh it off, saying
My wife and the other wife absolutely laughed it off.
- My wife and the other wife absolutely laughed it off.
- At first I laughed it off and said when you do, but I was genuinely upset at the comment.
- The next day, he laughed it off because she hit him back.
Examples
-
Let's just laugh it off and move on.
-
You were embarrassed, and he laughed it off, said you could make it up to him with a cup of coffee.
-
...like, laugh it off and like make the man feel comfortable.
-
- Laugh it off, man.
-
You know, I laughed it off, so...
-
After I laughed it off as usual, I got a call from the kid's mother.
-
At first I laughed it off and said when you do, but I was genuinely upset at the comment.
-
Mate, just leave it, the chicas are looking, just laugh it off.
-
Fletcher spilled a drink in my lap, and I laughed it off.
Fiction book (2000) -
Picard hesitates, smiles at her, and tries to laugh it off.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
27
3.9
Treat something as unimportant and ignore it
3
4.2
Treat a problem or criticism as not important by joking about it
2
4.1
To treat criticism or an insult as not important
1
4.6
To make a problem seem unimportant by joking about it
1
9.0
To reject something as silly and not take it seriously in places like a court or meeting
Antonyms
How Dismissive
∞
1.0
332
3.0
1
4.6
- Informal
20
4.2
16
4.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
laugh + it + off
The verb 'laugh' (show amusement) plus the particle 'off' (with a sense of removing or dismissing) makes the intended meaning 'to dismiss something by laughing' reasonably inferable from the parts. However, the sense is figurative and depends on knowing the dismissive function of the particle 'off' in phrasal verbs, so it is not fully literal or immediately predictable to all B1 learners. Cross-linguistically there are similar constructions, which increases partial transparency but not full compositionality.
Etymology
Laugh it off comes from the simple image of laugh plus off: you laugh and the problem seems to be pushed away or fall off you. That's why it means 'to treat something as unimportant by laughing or joking about it'.