Comic takes a central place in Dostoevsky’s prose, with laugh and laugh-related words being in regular use. The article seeks to show semantic and syntactic properties of the lexeme and its occurrences in Dostoevsky’s stories and novels. This is done with the help of the Dictionary of Dostoevsky’s Language which introduces key words in the writer’s oeuvre. It is claimed that laugh serves to make up for something a character lacks, or it may withhold someone’s immorality. Special emphasis is laid on irregular uses of laugh and the attributive function of the word. Research pinpoints so-called unhealthy laugh, encountered in Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, and the Brothers Karamazov, most popular and most-cited Dostoevsky’s novels, which helps to understand why researchers highlighted it. Laughing for joy is no less frequent, however. The article concludes that Dostoevsky’s prime image is Homo Ridens, a person who laughs.