I am not sure about the meaning of this sentence.

意味ありげな笑いを浮かべた

"(He) showed a meaningful laughter" ?

Is that correct?
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2012-12-09T07:30:34.097
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2012-12-09T12:45:52.320
2012-12-09T09:25:24.137
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translation
Don't get the meaning of the sentence "意味ありげな笑いを浮かべた"
* 意味ありげ has the same meaning as 意味がある気配 (and may be a contraction of this phrase). It means, just like you suggest, "meaningful" or in a longer version "indicative of having meaning".

  * 笑い is more often a smile than a laughter.

  * 浮かべる is related to 浮かぶ "to float/to surface".

Thus the full sentence is (very much like you suggested)

> 意味ありげな笑いを浮かべた  
>  He showed a meaningful smile.

or, more poetically

> A meaningful smile appeared on his face.
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2012-12-09T07:49:26.683
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2012-12-09T07:49:26.683
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* I would say that 意味ありげ comes from 意味 "meaning" and [有{あ}り気{げ}](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E6%9C%89%E3%82%8A%E6%B0%97&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=00560800) "appearing like"/"seeming to be". 

[Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E6%84%8F%E5%91%B3%E6%9C%89%E3%82%8A%E3%81%92&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=101255200000)
says 意味ありげ means 何か意味がありそうな様子, or "a state of appearing to have meaning", the
〜げ presumably coming from the 〜気{げ} which means more-or-less the same as 〜そう
(see also [What is the usage of 〜げ and how does it differ from 〜そう or
〜っぽい?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1386/what-is-the-
difference-between-%E3%81%92-and-%E3%81%9D%E3%81%86)), so I think "appearing
to have meaning" might be a more literal translation but that "meaningful" is
probably close enough.

  * The 笑い here means "smile" I think.

  * I think the transitive verb 浮かべる here means "to express (on one's face)" (def #2 at [Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E6%B5%AE%E3%81%8B%E3%81%B9%E3%82%8B&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0na)), coming from the core meaning of 浮かべる of "to float"/"to launch (a ship on water etc)".

So I think the translation "(He) expressed a meaningful smile on (his) face"
would be close.
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2012-12-09T09:10:44.060
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Cypher and userxxxx have covered the grammar but if you were struggling with
"a meaningful smile" then perhaps it could be translated as:

> he wore a pregnant smile on his face

or, perhaps, dependng on context:

> he allowed a pregnant smile to cross his face

笑い can be smile, chuckle, snigger, giggle or smile but when I came across the
following in the textbook そうまとめ文法N２：

> 男は 意味ありげな 笑いを 浮かべた。

I imagined a small huddle in corner, whispering, and took the line to mean:

> The men let out a meaningful laugh.

(again it probably comes down to context.) The following expressions are
useful to know:

> 自信ありげconfident laugh
>
> 自信なさげ laugh lacking in confidence
>
> 自慢げboastful
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2012-12-09T12:45:52.320
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