cram
verb (used with object)
to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
cram
1 American
[kram]
/ kræm /
verb (used with object)
-
crams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crammed,
past participle, past
-
cramming
present participle
-
to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
-
to force or stuff (usually followed by into, down, etc.).
-
to fill with or as with an excessive amount of food; overfeed.
- Synonyms:
- glut
-
Informal.
-
to prepare (a person), as for an exam, by having them memorize information within a short period of time.
-
to acquire knowledge of (a subject) by so preparing oneself.
-
-
Archaic. to tell lies to.
verb (used without object)
-
crams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crammed,
past participle, past
-
cramming
present participle
-
to eat greedily or to excess.
- Synonyms:
- gorge
-
to study for an examination by memorizing facts at the last minute.
-
to press or force accommodation in a room, vehicle, etc., beyond normal or comfortable capacity; crowd; jam.
The whole team crammed into the bus.
noun
-
Informal. the act of preparing for an exam by memorizing information within a short time period.
-
an excessively full state.
-
a dense crowd; throng.
Cram
2
American
[kram]
/ kræm /
noun
cram
1
British
/ kræm /
verb
-
(tr) to force (people, material, etc) into (a room, container, etc) with more than it can hold; stuff
-
to eat or cause to eat more than necessary
-
informal to study or cause to study (facts, etc), esp for an examination, by hastily memorizing
noun
-
the act or condition of cramming
-
a crush
Cram
2
British
/ kræm /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cramsimple
-
cramssimple
-
have crammedperfect
-
has crammedperfect
-
am crammingprogressive
-
are crammingprogressive
-
is crammingprogressive
-
have been crammingperfect progressive
-
has been crammingperfect progressive
Past
-
crammedsimple
-
had crammedperfect
-
was crammingprogressive
-
were crammingprogressive
-
had been crammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cram
First recorded before 1000; Middle English crammen, Old English crammian “to stuff,” akin to crimman “to put in”
Explanation
To cram is to crowd or stuff people or things into a limited amount of space. You might be tempted to cram your mouth full of your mom's chocolate chip cookies, especially if they just came out of the oven and are still warm and gooey. You can cram yourself with food, or cram your books onto a shelf that's not quite big enough to hold them. A writer might cram one book with dozens of characters, or you could cram homemade pancakes with blueberries. Another way to cram is to study for a test all in one session: "I haven't studied at all yet — I'll have to stay up tonight and cram." The Old English root, crammian, means "stuff something into something else."
Vocabulary lists containing cram
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Out of the Dust
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Teeming Terms: Synonyms for "Full"
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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:
Parking doesn’t exist, so cars cram onto the sidewalk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
You don’t need to cram every beautiful thing into the same dinner merely because it came home in the same tote.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Instead of trying to make transistors smaller, the company laid out a method for stacking circuits to cram more computing power into a single chip footprint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Some contestants take that as a challenge to cram as many ideas as possible into their allotted time.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic, so I just cram more PB&J in my face.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
BBC commentator and former 1500m world champion Steve Cram said: "The key is the exposure of it. It's good for the sport. It's really good for the profile of the athletes."
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
"I think this is a sign of weakness from Ingebrigtsen," said former world champion and Olympic silver medallist Steve Cram on BBC One.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
Communications director Christopher Cram has previously told The Washington Times the district cannot comment about pending litigation.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
Cram heads the department’s new Behavioral Health Unit, which was started late last year.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
This settled, my father was desired to send me to Cram Hall, his lordship’s residence, next day, to enter on my new duties.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume VI by Alexander Leighton
Grubin, chief executive of product-sampling firm SoPost, said he’d rather have a functional room than one that crams all the bathroom stuff in a separate space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security’s intense push to ramp up deportations is dragging in even the dead as it unnerves immigrant households and crams court calendars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2025
The influx crams even more people into one of Gaza’s most densely populated areas.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2023
No matter how many ideas it crams into its quick-paced plot, it’s doomed to fall short of representing an entire group of people — and it knows it shouldn’t have to.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
Jennifer crams the last hunk of muffin into her mouth.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Three rooms were crammed with plants growing behind tarpaulin screens under bright lights.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
The so-called diversified index funds are crammed with AI.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
But away from the din at the crammed Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, a quieter labor-management battle is unfolding over who controls the sport’s money and how much should go to players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
"They are giving us pads but we don't have undergarments," said Tamang, whose family of 20 has been living in a crammed classroom.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The photos were small because there were at least a dozen of them crammed on the poster, some of them overlapping to show both the front and the back of the style.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
The fate of a franchise depends on cramming them into a vast, complex puzzle of resource allocation that’s harder to navigate than a swimming pool in a straitjacket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
He says he does not want to share his name as he stands among the crowds cramming into vantage points for a view of Chongqing's neon-lit, stacked skyline.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
“Meghan’s serving your insatiable thirst for dance-ready bops with the upbeat banger that is ‘Foolish,’” the release stated, cramming two bits of gay slang into one sentence.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The diggers were efficient, cramming in so many graves that, from above, the field near the University of Sudan’s medical campus looked like a frieze of an undulating, gravel-brown sea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
Ivan didn’t say anything to them as he dove for the food, cramming meat patties, boiled eggs, and fried, flat cakes into his mouth.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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