cough

coughverb

American /kɔf/ British /kɒf/ Cough rhymes with off. The gh sounds like f.
third-person singular coughs past tense coughed past participle coughed present participle coughing
  1. push air out of your throat suddenly with a short loud sound, especially when you are ill

    intransitive [I]

    Collocations

    adverb + verb cough loudly, cough quietly, cough badly
    phrase start coughing, keep coughing

Word family

  • cough

See also cough up; sneeze

For translators

Pronunciation trap The ough in cough sounds like off; it does not sound like the ough in through or though.