Dictionary

laugh off en · VERB

Meanings

1. (transitive) To respond to (a negative situation) lightheartedly, as though it were a joke.
   • Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on official government websites and social media accounts […]. The White House usually responds to criticism about such things by laughing it off. 2026 February 6, Erica L. Green, Isabella Kwai, “Trump Deletes Racist Video Portraying the Obamas as Apes”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2026:
   • […] The landowner, Gennaro Matrone, had a hunch that these were the remains of Pliny the Elder (the Younger wrote of his uncle’s body lying as if asleep on the day after the eruption), but his theory was laughed off in the press. 2020 February 14, Franz Lidz, “Here Lies the Skull of Pliny the Elder, Maybe”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2021:

Forms

Coordinates

play off

Synonyms

laugh away

Translations (11)

cmn 一笑置之 (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · pl obrócić w żart (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · hu elnevet (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · nl weglachen (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · ko 웃다 (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · ru отшу́чиваться (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · cmn 一笑了之 (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · ru отшути́ться (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · pl obracać w żart (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · fi nauraa (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly) · vi cười xoà (respond to a negative situation lightheartedly)