am
verb
1st person singular present indicative of be.
am
1 American
[am, uhm, m]
/ æm, əm, m /
verb
Am
2
American
Symbol, Chemistry.
AM
3
American
abbreviation
-
Electronics. amplitude modulation: a method of impressing a signal on a radio carrier wave by varying its amplitude.
-
Radio. a system of broadcasting by means of amplitude modulation.
-
of, relating to, or utilizing such a system.
-
Asian male.
Am.
4
American
abbreviation
-
America.
-
American.
A/m
5
American
a.m.
6
American
abbreviation
-
before noon.
-
the period from midnight to noon, especially the period of daylight prior to noon.
Shall we meet Saturday a.m.?
-
a morning newspaper, sometimes issued shortly before midnight.
A.M.
7
American
Am
1
British
symbol
am
2
British
verb
AM
3
British
abbreviation
-
associate member
-
Assembly Member (of the National Assembly of Wales)
-
Albert Medal
-
Master of Arts
-
Also: am. amplitude modulation
-
See a.m.
-
Member of the Order of Australia
-
Armenia (international car registration)
a.m.
4
British
abbreviation
am
5
British
am
6
British
abbreviation
A/M
7
British
abbreviation
Am.
8
British
abbreviation
AM
Scientific
Usage
The abbreviation a.m. for Latin ante merīdiem, meaning “before noon,” refers to the period from midnight until noon. One minute before noon is 11:59 a.m. One minute after noon is 12:01 p.m. Many people distinguish between noon and midnight by saying 12 noon and 12 midnight. Expressions combining a.m. with morning ( 6 a.m. in the morning ) and p.m. with afternoon, evening, or night ( 9 p.m. at night ) are redundant and occur most often in casual speech and writing. Both a.m. and p.m. sometimes appear in capital letters, especially in printed matter.
Etymology
Origin of am1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English am, eam, eom; cognate with Gothic im, Old Norse, Armenian em, Old Irish am (from unattested esmi ), Attic Greek eimí, Aeolic Greek émmi, Doric Greek ēmí (all from prehistoric Greek esmi ), Hittite esmi, early Lithuanian esmì, Old Church Slavonic yesmĭ, Albanian jam (from unattested esmi ), Sanskrit ásmi, from unattested Proto-Indo-European ésmi, from root es- “to be” + -m 1st person singular + -i, present-time marker; cf. is
Origin of AM3
First recorded in 1935–40
Origin of a.m.6
From Latin ante merīdiem
Origin of A.M.7
A.M. ( def. 2 ) from Latin Artium Magister
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:
"I wish I would be able to stand out a little bit more, but I think I adapt my accent depending on where I am in the country."
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
“While the conviction of Guy Miles did not occur on my watch, I am proud to say that the decision to move to have it dismissed did.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
“I could be delusional, but I don’t think I am, so I will pay for her love.”
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Today, I am returning to exercise my responsibilities as governor of Sinaloa with my head held high and with the truth on our side,” Rocha said in a statement posted on X.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
“I believe in miracles and God will see that I am cured.”
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
By the 1950s and ’60s, when boomers were growing up, Americans traveling abroad were in rare air—a glamorous jet set who wore their best for flights on Pan Am and TWA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“That’s kind of you to say. Thank you for the I Am Precious smoothie.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Libyan Al-Marimi, also known as Masud, has denied making and priming the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Dumfries and Galloway on 21 December 1988.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
I wanted something small like a bran muffin and quickly scanned the menu for “I Am Regular” to no avail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
“Not because I was trying to be coy or unavailable. Because I was a mess. Am a mess.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Credit rating agencies Fitch, S&P Global and AM Best have all downgraded the outlook for the two insurers, though they still rate them highly financially.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
It added that the station director was across the station's AM output but was on a call when the inaccurate announcement was broadcast.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Time: Whether earnings are released AM — before the open — or PM — after the close.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
With those adjustments, the team successfully produced cemented carbide through AM without sacrificing its hardness.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
I start my day at 5:35 AM with inventory for next weekend’s jobs, which are listed on a roster next to the inventory clipboard.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
The label ‘Negroes’ was commonplace in America through the 1960s—and as late as the 2010 census, a category of ‘Black, African Am., or Negro’ remained, but the Census Bureau subsequently dropped that label.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
By the end, her work has had an impact at home, too — her baby sister marching around repeating her words: “I. Am. Not. Sorry!”
From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2021
“I am stressed out. And when I say I am stressed out — I. Am. Stressed. Out.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2021
Their decision to self-identify only as "American" isn't really any different from someone else's decision to self-identify as -- in the antiquated words of the Census form -- "Black, African Am. or Negro."
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2010
“It reminds me, too, of how worthless I was. Am. How I couldn’t protect my work family. Not then. How I can’t protect my family now. Look at this place.”
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The levy officially went into effect at 12:01 a.m.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Aditya Sharma recently went to bed at 6 a.m. after an all-nighter with his crew of generative-AI bots—systems that plan and execute multistep tasks like pulling data and writing code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
So if you want to DM me, DM me between midnight and 3 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
U.S. economic data due Friday include the flash manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indexes for August, released at 9:45 a.m.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
But this year, the school will be packed with volunteers starting at seven a.m.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
With advances in technology, insurers have been accelerating investments in telematics, data and artificial intelligence, including to better predict driver risk and set rates, according to insurer ratings agency A.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Overall, there are benefits to the use of telematics,” said Chris Draghi, a director at A.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
A week ago, we asked Markets A.M. readers for their “shoeshine boy” moments—an everyday encounter that convinced them that a market peak was imminent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Insurance shoppers can also measure an insurer’s financial strength by checking its credit rating through agencies like A.M.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
We were scheduled to start at 9 A.M.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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.
