katagelao describes people responding to someone with derisive laughter or mockery.

The attested use depicts a group reacting with derisive laughter or mockery toward him after he says that a girl has not died; the same imperfect active indicative plural form occurs in all three verses.

1. Derisive group response toward him · dominant

   In Matthew 9:24, after he says that the girl has not died but is sleeping, the APB renders the response, “And they were mocking him.” Mark 5:40 renders the group’s response “they laughed at him,” while Luke 8:53 places it alongside their knowledge that she had died; all three use the imperfect active indicative plural form κατεγέλων.

   Matthew 9:24Mark 5:40Luke 8:53

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB renders the response as “mocking him” in Matthew 9:24 and Luke 8:53, and as “laughed at him” in Mark 5:40. These are translation renderings of whole clauses.