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to make someone laugh

to make someone laugh

252 1.0
Cause someone to feel amused by saying or doing something funny
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : hacer reír
  • His jokes always make me laugh when I'm feeling down.
  • make people laugh
  • make others laugh
  • able to make people laugh

I think when you make someone laugh at something, it seems like it's OK.

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Examples

Synonyms

to joke
vsto make someone laugh
476 1.0

To say or do something to make people laugh

is used for any act that causes amusement not only spoken humour
to amuse
vsto make someone laugh
153 1.4

To make someone laugh or enjoy themselves

is narrower focusing on causing laughter by funny acts or words
to crack a joke
vsto make someone laugh
  • Informal
10 2.9

Tell a joke to make people laugh

is any action that creates amusement not only telling short remarks
to tickle someone's funny bone
vsto make someone laugh
  • Informal
6.9

To make someone laugh or feel amused

is a general term for causing amusement by funny acts or words
to leave someone in stitches
vsto make someone laugh
  • Informal
6.0

Make someone laugh a lot so they cannot stop

means to cause stronger uncontrollable laughter rather than mild amusement

Antonyms

1.0

To let tears fall because you feel sad or hurt

How Amused

to roar
17 2.4
to make someone laugh
252 1.0

Surface Forms

make someone laugh infinitive
made someone laugh past participle
making someone laugh present participle
makes someone laugh third person singular

Morphology

make + someone + laugh

The meaning 'to cause someone to feel amused' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'make' (to cause) with 'someone' (a person) and 'laugh' (to produce laughter). This causative composition is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Make someone laugh gives a simple picture: one person (someone) does or says something funny (make) and the other person laughs. That's why it means 'to cause someone to feel amused or to laugh'.