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hmm

British  
/ mm /

interjection

  1. a sound made when considering or puzzling over something

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

“I was reading the Bible the other day, and there were em dashes in the book of James, and I was like, hmm, is this AI-generated?,”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

Maybe the “solution” was to not do that in the first place, hmm?

From Slate • Jul. 26, 2025

Kate Mansey, an assistant editor at The Times, was more circumspect: "I'm not quite sure what to say about this one, except, hmm..."

From BBC • May 22, 2024

In Mozambique, Yao honey-hunters do so with a trilled "Brr! ..." followed by a guttural " ... hmm!"

From Science Daily • Dec. 7, 2023

“In need of a little focusing, hmm? If a is eleven and b is nine and x is the product of a times b, what is the value of x?”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

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