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
verb
Am
2
British
symbol
a.m.
3
British
abbreviation
am
4
British
abbreviation
A/M
5
British
abbreviation
Am.
6
British
abbreviation
am
7
British
AM
8
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)
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:
"When I came and I tried to get into university they said that as I am a refugee my qualifications would not suffice," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
“I am so profoundly sorry that I was not in my city when my city needed me,” Bass said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Why am I standing? I ask myself that every morning," admits Tim Sharman, who is running as an independent for Virginia's 8th District seat in the House.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
The time seems right for an elder influencer, and I am putting myself out there for the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
‘I am not your Listener,’ he said as steadily as he could.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Am I being selfish for refusing to leave the house, or a good part of it, to my aunt’s children?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 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
From footnote 21 in “ ‘Lord I Am 1’: The Solitary ‘I’ and the Social Lyric,” a 2025 doctoral dissertation in English by Jenna Hart at the University of Illinois Chicago:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
He won the 2004 Tony Award for playing more than 40 characters in “I Am My Own Wife,” and his 2022 adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” saw him take on more than 50 characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Now, Corporal, you are probably wondering why I attacked you like that. Am I correct?”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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
Industry lobbyists have argued that AM radio is no longer a widely used feature and say that it can interfere with the widening suite of technology installed in new vehicles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The industry’s shift away from incorporating AM radio began a decade ago, after more car companies began to develop electric vehicles for the U.S. market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
AM news fills his ears as soon as he turns on the ignition, startling him; his father had always been particular about turning off the radio at the end of a drive.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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 stressed out. And when I say I am stressed out — I. Am. Stressed. Out.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2021
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
In the first year, Segev, Bar-Ilan and Itai would work until 2 or 3 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
September’s consumer-price index is set to be released at 8:30 a.m.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Eastern or Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
I’m late to meet Jonah outside at seven a.m. for our Saturday morning long run, but my side bangs won’t be contained in this humidity.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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
We’d love to hear it and will relay some of the best tales a week from now in the Markets A.M.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 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 basically hung out in my room, listening to tunes and trying to catch some zees after the four A.M. wake-up call.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
