snicker

[snik-er] /ˈsnɪk ər/

verb (used without object)

to laugh in a half-suppressed, indecorous or disrespectful manner.

verb (used with object)

to utter with a snicker.

noun

a snickering laugh.

Also, snigger.

Origin

1685-95; of expressive orig.

Related forms

snickeringly, adverb

Can be confused

sneaker, snicker.

Examples from the web for snicker

Many a snicker greeted this blatant attempt to prefigure and even direct the course of artistic expression.
The youngsters in the room may even snicker derisively and wonder if anyone was ever daft enough to believe that.
They don't parrot the party line, they snicker at some official's sanitized version, they'll listen to their hosts' ideas.
People would snicker behind your back, your scientific career would be ruined, and you wouldn't get tenure.
When the makers of this series claim some profound philosophic purpose, the appropriate response is not to sue but to snicker.
Let outsiders snicker and make cracks about appealing to a higher power.
One might grin or snicker at a question aimed at the other.
True, they were last in a seven-team division last year and are last in a five-team division this year, but don't snicker too.
As he waited to be summoned by the boss, a small army of clerks gathered to gape and snicker.
At one point he even called himself a top-10 player, which made some people snicker.

British Dictionary definitions for snicker

/ˈsnɪkə/

noun

(mainly US & Canadian) a sly or disrespectful laugh, esp one partly stifled

verb

to utter such a laugh Equivalent term (in Britain and certain other countries) snigger

(of a horse) to whinny

Word Origin

C17: probably of imitative origin

snigger

/ˈsnɪɡə/

noun

a sly or disrespectful laugh, esp one partly stifled

verb (intransitive)

to utter such a laugh

Word Origin

C18: variant of snicker

Word Origin and History for snicker

1690s, possibly of imitative origin, similar to Dutch snikken "to gasp, sob." Related: Snickered; snickering.

"a smothered laugh," 1835, from snicker (v.).