bam
noun
a loud thud, as that produced when two objects strike against each other with force.
bam
1 American
[bam]
/ bæm /
noun
verb (used without object)
bammed,
bamming
B.A.M.
2
American
abbreviation
-
Bachelor of Applied Mathematics.
-
Bachelor of Arts in Music.
Etymology
Origin of bam
Imitative
Explanation
A bam is a loud, startling sound. You might say that your brother tends to shove the front door open with a bam that makes you jump. While a bam is a noise like a "bang," you can also use the word as an exclamation or interjection, to emphasize how loud or shocking something is. You might say, for example, "I was pulling out of my driveway, and then, bam, the truck hit me!" The word's origin is imitative — in other words, it sounds like a hit or slam. The first recorded use of bam, in 1917, imitated the sound of a military shell exploding.
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:
"There was just a little bit of heat, then bam, they bombed again, and now nothing works," Yeromina sighed.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
"I'm not so stupid that I just say this out of the blue, bam," said Slot.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
“Go in the studio, sit down, write something and bam, go record. Just keep my strength.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2023
“Tons of water just went bam, like a huge crash, big vibrations,” Ms. Maggioncalda, 25, said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
“My son, Hendrik,” Mr. Van Sandtford goes on, “drove Alice and Hanni to Livingstonville last evening with their hogs. Hanni raises hogs, too. The girls are going to sleep in the bam with their animals.”
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
The B.A.M. members, who were overwhelmingly male, were known for making confrontational work; they and their acolytes viewed hers — insistently introspective, often self-lacerating — with suspicion.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
Our old friends, Wilson and Jack Bourne, had shut up by stratagem B.A.M.
From Acton's Feud A Public School Story by Frederick Swainson
Benny Maestas growled and whistled; Sparky Pacheco bammed his palms against the window; Jimmy Ortega neighed; Betty Apodaca tugged her cheeks out with her fingers, grimacing and loudly clacking her teeth.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
After that she bammed out “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” as if her purpose in life was to play loud enough for old man Tate to hear through the shut windows.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
He knelt in the dirt a moment, tenderly feeling his mouth, while the hundred or so spectators cheered and honked some more and clapped and bammed their hands against their hoods and fenders.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Whether Byron bammed him, or he, by virtue of his own egregious stupidity, was the sole and sufficient bammifier of himself, I know not; neither greatly do I care.
From Lady Byron Vindicated A history of the Byron controversy from its beginning in 1816 to the present time by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Whether Byron bammed him, or he, by virtue of his own stupidity, was the sole and sufficient bammifier of himself, I know not.’
From Lady Byron Vindicated A history of the Byron controversy from its beginning in 1816 to the present time by Harriet Beecher Stowe
“I’m tired of them bamming my door and treating me like I’m the criminal. They’ve made us enemies by the way they behave towards us,” Johnson said.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2020
I could barely hear them over the bamming of my heart.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
