What's the difference between giggle and titter?

Giggle


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To laugh with short catches of the breath or voice; to laugh in a light, affected, or silly manner; to titter with childish levity.
  • (n.) A kind of laugh, with short catches of the voice or breath; a light, silly laugh.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I said: ‘Apologies for doing this publicly, but I did try to get a meeting with you, and I couldn’t even get a reply.’ And then I had a massive go at him – about everything really, from poverty to uni fees to NHS waiting times.” She giggles again.
  • (2) "Well…" His delightful press secretary, Lena, starts giggling as her boss tries to unknot himself from this contradiction.
  • (3) "Enuresis risoria" or "giggle incontinence" is a particular condition characterized by a sudden, involuntary, uncontrollable and complete emptying of the bladder during giggling or hearty laughter.
  • (4) The only thing she wouldn't do was We Shall Overcome, too sacred to perform on a whim she tells me when I meet her later, besides which - and here she giggles - "we probably won't overcome.
  • (5) I remember standing by the side of the stage, thinking, "I'm about to follow the Spice Girls" and giggling to myself.
  • (6) He keeps trying to leave the interview and is giggling as he's pulled back.
  • (7) "He [Meyer] sat here giggling about his [Mosley's] shaved buttocks," said Davies.
  • (8) This was to have been a free-admission hit-and-giggle day before the night session but the weather forced the cancellation of John and Patrick McEnroe’s little joust with Michael Chang and Todd Martin (also wiping out the evening programme) so those who braved the elements got to see some proper tennis.
  • (9) He giggles, and says people are going to be sadly disappointed if they befriend him for his lavish spending.
  • (10) Griff is giggling so much he has to stand in the corner of the studio, hunched over in hysteria. '
  • (11) But then the cost of armed guards to accompany them isn't cheap," Aken'ova sighs, before telling the two giggling women the price for bottles of massage oil.
  • (12) His lordship is desperate to avoid joining them, but as the weeks pass his occasional giggles at the absurd scale of his task begin to seem faintly hysterical.
  • (13) No wonder Roger Burman, Winterhill's barrel-chested headteacher, was beaming on Thursday morning as he welcomed a line of nervous teenagers into the school hall, some of whom confessed they had been awake since 5am ("and I usually get up at 1pm", giggled Amy Jones as she loitered outside).
  • (14) Their encounter is a graphic and uninhibited coupling, but intimate and communicative, with the odd giggle, and each partner enjoying equal pleasure and control.
  • (15) A mysterious form of ill-fortune, it seems – possibly a "condition" but not needful of medicalisation, and certainly not of funding; just pity, maybe, or sometimes giggling, or a judicious kick in the arse.
  • (16) And with that, they both collapse into giggles, like a couple who already figured that out long ago.
  • (17) Bouchard, one of the rising stars of women’s tennis, had just won a match on Margaret Court Arena and complied, smiled and giggled – but looked as if she were taking part in someone else’s joke.
  • (18) It was as much as I could do to stop myself giggling as the bemused caller lost his thread and started fumbling for words.
  • (19) Between their inward groans and suppressed giggles, the friends recognised something of great value, a familiar form no other artist had yet nicked.
  • (20) They order room service while giggling in their dressing gowns.

Titter


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To laugh with the tongue striking against the root of the upper teeth; to laugh with restraint, or without much noise; to giggle.
  • (n.) A restrained laugh.
  • (v. i.) To seesaw. See Teeter.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But in and among the general approval, there was the odd titter that such a well-established prize should find itself being backed by a purveyor of sticky drinks.
  • (2) But there’s also generic observational material (how British people avoid speaking to strangers on trains, and so on), and I soon found Hess’s incessant burbling and tittering around largely trivial subjects beginning to wash over me.
  • (3) The audience tittered when Murdoch said he thought the channel's news coverage had no political bias.
  • (4) Well Dave genuinely thought the reptiles would go mad for tantric sex lolz because when he tested it in cabinet people were seriously woof, Govey was so hysterical that Haguey was like, hark at Lady Govina, titter ye not missus & Picklesy kept shouting encore, so Dave said funny you should ask, well they have this position called the BT engineer as in you stay in all day and no one comes.
  • (5) There was a bit of tittering from the audience and it has to be said that in this city of nostalgia and football passion, where Diego Maradona will always be king and everybody is an expert, Benítez retains popular support.
  • (6) The muses holding up the balcony tittered and the huge chandelier, only just out of reach of Dodd's enormous tickling stick, tinkled with delight.
  • (7) Labour's shadow education secretary, and historian, Tristram Hunt retorts that it is Gove's argument, rather than unpatriotic Britons tittering over fictional tortoises, that is really shocking.
  • (8) And there was a certain amount of twitter tittering about two of the world's most eminent economists getting their sums wrong.
  • (9) It’s easier to say we are not guilty, the Russians are guilty … It reminds me of antisemitism: the Jews are guilty of everything,” Putin said at the end of his comments, which drew titters from the audience.
  • (10) Nadine Dorries "the suspended member for Mid Bedfordshire" – titter ye not – has not yet achieved her stated aim of encouraging a discussion about abortion or the nasty Lib Dems while emptying the dunny.
  • (11) There are a few titters from the crowd; the venue comfortably holds about 100, but because of the excitable reviews for Musgraves's new album, Same Trailer Different Park , the room is crammed with perhaps double that.
  • (12) With a competitive league match under their belts, most English teams will have a better of idea where they stand with regard to the season ahead, with Arsenal the subject of much tittering in the wake of their home defeat at the hands of West Ham after All That Talk.
  • (13) Pretentious in the best sense of the word, Bush in the early 80s became one of those artists, such as the Associates or Japan, who caused Radio 1 daytime DJs to titter nervously, or be openly derisive.
  • (14) At this point in our conversation Portman, 26 now but still with the proportions and doll-like features of a child, titters - there's no other word for it - nervously.
  • (15) Significant differences in end point titter were observed both within and between species.
  • (16) So forget Shagga, titter ye not and consider the (serious face) … Geopolitical context Remember that episode of Borgen where they spent an hour that you'll never get back on the power plays over the election of Denmark's next EU commissioner?
  • (17) Let the camp tittering cease while its spiritual significance is finally acknowledged.
  • (18) A real human voice – the conductor, presumably – raises a significant titter in the carriage when reminding us of this, adding “assuming they arrive on time”.
  • (19) "A mountain has been made out of a molehill," said Dave Bassett, oblivious to the tittering around him.
  • (20) Titter in the audience as he speaks of the controversy the award has generated.