Literary notes about Laughed (AI summary)
In literature, the verb "laughed" is a multifaceted tool that conveys everything from subtle irony to overt mirth. It can indicate an internal moment of enlightenment, as when a character laughs inwardly upon sudden insight [1], or serve as a means of social commentary, revealing ridicule or derision in a charged exchange [2, 3]. At times, laughter underscores a light-hearted spirit that brings warmth to familial or communal gatherings [4, 5], while in other contexts it hints at a veiled resistance or bittersweet resignation in the face of hardship [6, 7]. In this way, "laughed" enriches the narrative by capturing the fluid spectrum of human emotion and response.
- — When Zarathustra heard the wise man thus speak, he laughed in his heart: for thereby had a light dawned upon him.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - At this, some of them laughed at me, some called me fool, and some thrust me about.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan - He only laughed contemptuously at Grigory's evidence about the open door, and declared that it was “the devil that opened it.”
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - All three laughed as Meg spoke; for that linen-closet was a joke.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - Now she had never laughed in her life, and the doctors said she would never speak till somebody made her laugh.
— from English Fairy Tales - He was not to be laughed out of it, though he laughed at it heartily.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - 'It won't break my heart,' laughed Eugene; 'it won't stay by me eight-and-forty hours; but I am genuinely disappointed.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
