laugh out loud
/læf aʊt laʊd/
Meaning
This phrase means to laugh audibly so that others can hear you, rather than just smiling or laughing quietly in your head. While it is famous as the internet acronym 'LOL', people also use the full phrase in spoken English to describe their reaction to something funny.
Examples
-
That comedy show made me laugh out loud several times.
That comedy show made me laugh out loud several times.
-
I literally laughed out loud when I saw the cat jump.
I literally laughed out loud when I saw the cat jump.
-
His text message was so funny I laughed out loud on the bus.
His text message was so funny I laughed out loud on the bus.
-
It's rare for a book to make me laugh out loud.
It's rare for a book to make me laugh out loud.
-
She started to laugh out loud when she remembered the joke.
She started to laugh out loud when she remembered the joke.
Common Mistakes
-
✗ I laughed out loudly at his joke.
✓ I laughed out loud at his joke.
In this fixed idiomatic expression, 'loud' acts as an adverb. Do not change it to 'loudly'.
-
✗ That meme made me to laugh out loud.
✓ That meme made me laugh out loud.
The causative verb 'make' must be followed by a bare infinitive (laugh) instead of a 'to'-infinitive.
Related Expressions
Practice
-
The video of the baby dancing made me ___.
💡 laugh so others can hear you
Show answer
laugh out loud
-
I didn't just smile; I actually ___.
💡 past tense of the phrase
Show answer
laughed out loud