hum
Americanverb (used without object)
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hums,
present (3rd person singular)
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hummed,
past participle, past
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humming
present participle
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to make a low, continuous, droning sound.
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to give forth an indistinct sound of mingled voices or noises.
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to utter an indistinct sound in hesitation, embarrassment, dissatisfaction, etc.; hem.
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to sing with closed lips, without articulating words.
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to be in a state of busy activity.
The household hummed in preparation for the wedding.
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British Slang. to have a bad odor, as of stale perspiration.
verb (used with object)
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hums,
present (3rd person singular)
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hummed,
past participle, past
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humming
present participle
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to sound, sing, or utter by humming.
to hum a tune.
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to bring, put, etc., by humming.
to hum a child to sleep.
noun
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hums
plural
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the act or sound of humming; an inarticulate or indistinct murmur; hem.
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Audio. an unwanted low-frequency sound caused by power-line frequencies in any audio component.
interjection
verb
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(intr) to make a low continuous vibrating sound like that of a prolonged m
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(intr) (of a person) to sing with the lips closed
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(intr) to utter an indistinct sound, as in hesitation; hem
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informal (intr) to be in a state of feverish activity
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slang (intr) to smell unpleasant
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slang (intr) to scrounge
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See hem 2
noun
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a low continuous murmuring sound
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electronics an undesired low-frequency noise in the output of an amplifier or receiver, esp one caused by the power supply
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slang a scrounger; cadger
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slang an unpleasant odour
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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humsimple
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humssimple
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have hummedperfect
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has hummedperfect
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am hummingprogressive
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are hummingprogressive
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is hummingprogressive
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have been hummingperfect progressive
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has been hummingperfect progressive
Past
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hummedsimple
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had hummedperfect
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was hummingprogressive
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were hummingprogressive
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had been hummingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hum
1300–50; Middle English; ultimately imitative; cognate with German hummen to hum; cf. humblebee
Explanation
To hum is to make a low, steady, singing sound with your mouth closed. If you don't know the words to a song on the radio, you can just hum along. Other hums are based on the musical hum, making a similar low, constant sound. Bees hum, an electric fan hums, and your car idling quietly also hums. A figurative way to hum is to be busy and loud: "The cafe always seemed to hum with activity." The word hum is imitative (it sounds like the noise it describes), but its earliest form was hommen, in the 1500s, meaning "make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment."
Vocabulary lists containing hum
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Or will it end up becoming as normal a part of our soundscape as the hum of passing traffic or the roar of a plane's engine thousands of feet above us?
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Drexl, two PhD research fellows and a postdoc studied 28 people in Germany who reported hearing an unexplained hum or buzz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
At a media tour earlier this week, the massive Convention Center-scaled space was largely empty, save for dormant cranes, a scattering of workers and the occasional hum of drilling.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Halfway through 2026, the U.S. economy is continuing to hum thanks to solid consumer spending and strong business investment in artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
For music, the entire chorus of The Nutcracker began to hum the wedding march.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Even on an early Tuesday afternoon in July, the brightly lit, bustling space hums with high energy as a lunchtime crowd of New Yorkers tightly navigates the narrow aisles with oversized canvas bags.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
One scene in particular, in which Coley explores Sonya’s room, touching everything, hums with the strange excitement of being a specially invited new confidante.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
As he watches dishes cook, he hums along in Persian to the music playing in his restaurant.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
A kitchen manager keeps a careful eye on costs and resources, working in tandem with the chef to make sure the pantry hums efficiently.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2025
She hums as she helps Marie-Laure with the peeler.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
At the bustling centre, sewing machines hummed as women stitched blankets, while others stacked thin mattresses ready to be handed out.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Our Bosch dishwasher hummed but refused to wash, so I replaced the clogged heat exchanger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
On a rainy Thursday afternoon in November, the Collaboratory hummed with volunteers packing donated home goods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
Her phone was kept on silent; electro-beats hummed in the background; digestive biscuits were devoured.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Omakayas rocked and muttered, shushed, hummed, and sang an old lullaby her mother used.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
And when Morton was done, she looked over to director Christopher Nolan, waiting for him to say something like, “Maybe try it without the humming, Samantha.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Do you sometimes notice a deep buzzing or humming noise that seems to have no identifiable source?
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
Instead of spending the money on a pricey establishing shot of the car driving on the 101, Wain inserts a brief vintage clip of a ’70s-era taxi, humming along the road.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
Written by Jimmy Webb and released in 1968, it tells the lonely story of a laborer in Kansas who imagines the voice of the woman who got away humming down the endless telephone wires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Her father shook his head, still humming with laughter.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
