Guffaw
Definition:
A loud or boisterous burst of laughter.
Part of Speech (POS)
noun
Etymology
Guffaw comes from the Scottish word gawf, which is onomatopoetic, meaning that it’s spelled the way it sounds.
Below are a few examples of the word being used correctly in a sentence:
• After the clown tripped and fell over his big red shoes, he was overjoyed to receive a loud guffaw from the audience.
• I guffawed after seeing my eighty year old grandmother dressed in a mini-skirt.
• Heather wasn’t sure why her classmates were guffawing as she walked into the classroom.
• Keisha erupted into a ear-splitting guffaw, over her boyfriend’s obvious lies, about cheating with another woman.
• As the children guffawed loudly, the teacher hurried to remove the bubble gum from the seat of her chair.
Word forms:
- Present tense – I/ you/ we/ they – guffaw
- he /she/ it – guffaws
- Present participle – guffawing
- Past tense – guffawed
- Past participle – guffawed
Why are word forms important?
Answer: you need to know what word form to use, so that it grammatically fits in your writing.
Example:
1. The large crowd guffaws at the comedian’s jokes.
In the above sentence, the correct form of the word is guffawed, not guffaws. This is because the crowd has already done the verb/action.
Correct word form:
• The large crowd guffawed at the comedian’s jokes.
Now it’s your turn, on a sheet of paper or in the comment section below, write a few sentences using the word: guffaw. Also, try writing a sentence using one of the different word forms of guffaw. Please feel free to pay it forward, by sharing your sentences in the comment section below.
Tip: Use the word during a conversation today. The more you familiarize yourself with this word, by consistently incorporating it in your vocabulary and writing, the easier it will be to remember the word. Figuratively speaking, you’ll own the word.
We hope you enjoyed this workshop!
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