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
am
7
British
abbreviation
a.m.
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 am really happy to be in the final," said Fery.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
“I am immensely grateful to all of you and send my eternal love back to you. ... I hope to see your smiling faces out and about and on the road.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Rowan said in the statement: “Leon has been a terrific partner and leader for over three decades and I am honored to take the reins.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
"I am done! So don't any reporter ask me again about Hasan Piker. It's not what November is about," snapped congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan at a reelection rally on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
“What am I supposed to do, babysit her?”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Read: Am I too old for Roth conversions?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
“Where that is, no one can tell me. Am I doomed to ever roam?”
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Fhimah worked for the carrier in Malta before the bombing of Pan Am 103.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
A US federal judge postponed on Monday the trial of a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people, citing new evidence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Am I really talking to a cow right now?
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Short-term investments that aren’t cash require insurers to hold more capital as a buffer, said Erik Miller, senior director at AM Best.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Ololokwe, that took place at about 9:13 AM.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 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
The prince of the Red Woods glared at his friend and said, “I AM NOT A BUNNY!”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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
According to a 96-page bill, published at 7:26 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Central Command announced that the blockade of Iranian ports began at 10 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
On an average day, we woke up around 6:30 a.m. and ate a small breakfast before heading to a set of two to five sites.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
His plan is to go to sleep Wednesday night around 8 p.m., after his young children are tucked in, and wake up around 1 or 2 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
At one a.m. we get our midshift break, which is still called lunch even though it’s in the middle of the night.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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
And, ahem, regular readers of Markets A.M. will recall lots of hand-wringing about tech stocks when prices were lower.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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
I work up the courage to get to the phones at 11 A.M. and check the messages.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
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.
