am
verb
1st person singular present indicative of be.
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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 want to thank the FDA for their assistance in reaching this settlement and I am looking forward to moving on to the next chapter of my life".
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
It’s been another busy week of news, and I, for one, am ready to take a breather.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
This is this is my first time in that position, and I am absolutely different than I thought I would be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
But one foreign attendee voiced concerns, telling AFP in English: "I am really hoping Rwanda is not chewing what it cannot swallow."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
‘I am not your Listener,’ he said as steadily as he could.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
I don’t remember a moment of thinking: Am I gonna do this from the outside or am I gonna step into her shoes?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
In the 2019 Netflix film, Dolly Parton: Here I Am, he said his job was to transform her from a "heritage act" into a "superstar", and he took responsibility for reviving her international touring career.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
There are quieter songs — “quieter” being relative here — like one of two ballads on the record, “I Am Not Yours To Command.”
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
I Am Not A Villain has also posted screenshots of emails that suggest the scammer hijacked an Italian government email account, which communicated with an email address used by Revolut’s Italian arm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
“Yeah. I mean. I’ve been written into my favorite story since Hamilton. Am I taller?”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
As a morning AM radio host in Ohio, Deters lent his voice to the Trump movement, boosting the 2016 outsider’s campaign.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Study co-lead Professor David Whiteman AM said the presence of skin damage does not mean cancer has already formed.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Throughout the crisis, Kiritsis made live calls to Fred Heckman, a local AM radio news broadcaster, pleading to listeners for the justice he believed he was due.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Yet carmakers have long been opposed to an AM radio mandate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
At two AM, Marti's ordeal ended as quickly as it had begun.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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
“I. Am. Fuh-reezing. Feel my hand — I’m still cold,” said Ruth Marshall, 64, who was seated on a park bench, face to the sky.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 23, 2015
As my colleague Jeff Zeleny explained in January, the word appears as part of one of the racial categories on this year’s census form: “Black, African Am., or Negro.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2010
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 agency received a mayday call from a vessel about 1 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
It was 8 a.m. in Omsk when Tatiana was awaked by a phone call.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Lauryn Hill is off the hook as Essence takes blame for a set that wrapped after 3:30 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
In the clip, Collison and the Meta dudes are sharing a booth in what looks like one of those airport bars that opens at 6 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
By one a.m., he was ready to transfer the data from his pencil sketch map to the actual cave floor.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
“Overall, there are benefits to the use of telematics,” said Chris Draghi, a director at A.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
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
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
Higher-yielding private debt surged to nearly $1 trillion of insurers’ $6 trillion in invested assets, by A.M.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
A.M. and P.M. had touched her, along with Otto and Sheed, and she’d been permanently unfrozen, free to chase her mirror monsters.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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