cram
verb (used with object)
to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
cram
1 American
[kram]
/ kræm /
verb (used with object)
-
crams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crammed,
past participle, past
-
cramming
present participle
-
to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
-
to force or stuff (usually followed by into, down, etc.).
-
to fill with or as with an excessive amount of food; overfeed.
- Synonyms:
- glut
-
Informal.
-
to prepare (a person), as for an exam, by having them memorize information within a short period of time.
-
to acquire knowledge of (a subject) by so preparing oneself.
-
-
Archaic. to tell lies to.
verb (used without object)
-
crams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crammed,
past participle, past
-
cramming
present participle
-
to eat greedily or to excess.
- Synonyms:
- gorge
-
to study for an examination by memorizing facts at the last minute.
-
to press or force accommodation in a room, vehicle, etc., beyond normal or comfortable capacity; crowd; jam.
The whole team crammed into the bus.
noun
-
Informal. the act of preparing for an exam by memorizing information within a short time period.
-
an excessively full state.
-
a dense crowd; throng.
Cram
2
American
[kram]
/ kræm /
noun
cram
1
British
/ kræm /
verb
-
(tr) to force (people, material, etc) into (a room, container, etc) with more than it can hold; stuff
-
to eat or cause to eat more than necessary
-
informal to study or cause to study (facts, etc), esp for an examination, by hastily memorizing
noun
-
the act or condition of cramming
-
a crush
Cram
2
British
/ kræm /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cramsimple
-
cramssimple
-
have crammedperfect
-
has crammedperfect
-
am crammingprogressive
-
are crammingprogressive
-
is crammingprogressive
-
have been crammingperfect progressive
-
has been crammingperfect progressive
Past
-
crammedsimple
-
had crammedperfect
-
was crammingprogressive
-
were crammingprogressive
-
had been crammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cram
First recorded before 1000; Middle English crammen, Old English crammian “to stuff,” akin to crimman “to put in”
Explanation
To cram is to crowd or stuff people or things into a limited amount of space. You might be tempted to cram your mouth full of your mom's chocolate chip cookies, especially if they just came out of the oven and are still warm and gooey. You can cram yourself with food, or cram your books onto a shelf that's not quite big enough to hold them. A writer might cram one book with dozens of characters, or you could cram homemade pancakes with blueberries. Another way to cram is to study for a test all in one session: "I haven't studied at all yet — I'll have to stay up tonight and cram." The Old English root, crammian, means "stuff something into something else."
Vocabulary lists containing cram
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Out of the Dust
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Teeming Terms: Synonyms for "Full"
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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:
Parking doesn’t exist, so cars cram onto the sidewalk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
As companies cram more-powerful graphics chips into data centers, moving information quickly between those processors is becoming a bigger challenge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
You don’t need to cram every beautiful thing into the same dinner merely because it came home in the same tote.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Some contestants take that as a challenge to cram as many ideas as possible into their allotted time.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
I’m trying to cram and El is not because she’s done with all of her finals.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
"Charlie held his form incredibly well," said BBC commentator Steve Cram.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2024
Communications director Christopher Cram has previously told The Washington Times the district cannot comment about pending litigation.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
Cram heads the department’s new Behavioral Health Unit, which was started late last year.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
I've got Steve Cram writing my training programme.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2022
Doyle's a totally different man since she turned up, Cram tells me.
From Waring's Peril by Charles King
Grubin, chief executive of product-sampling firm SoPost, said he’d rather have a functional room than one that crams all the bathroom stuff in a separate space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
We don't necessarily need to come up with a wildcard formation that crams all the new signings into the same team.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2025
The influx crams even more people into one of Gaza’s most densely populated areas.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2023
She crams into a trailer with her 11-year-old daughter and her adult son, as well as her adult daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2023
Jennifer crams the last hunk of muffin into her mouth.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Another source of strain: In peacetime, the ports were used for rest and recuperation by sailors seeking a break from an aircraft carrier’s crammed quarters and exhausting routines.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Hundreds of people crammed into the school gym that April evening, and the debate over Point Reyes agitated into a low boil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
BTS attracted the venue's largest-ever concert crowd, with 65,000 fans crammed into the stadium, waving light sticks and hand-made signs for their heroes.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Chip stacks fused with hybrid bonding have smaller gaps between layers than those fused via less-expensive thermal compression bonding, allowing more memory to be crammed into a smaller space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
But they are the ones crammed in where they shouldn’t be.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Smuggling gangs are taking greater risks than ever, with the number of people they are cramming into unseaworthy boats rising year on year."
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Agustin regularly makes breakfast and dinner with fellow residents while cramming for her master’s of fine arts assignments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
“Meghan’s serving your insatiable thirst for dance-ready bops with the upbeat banger that is ‘Foolish,’” the release stated, cramming two bits of gay slang into one sentence.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The diggers were efficient, cramming in so many graves that, from above, the field near the University of Sudan’s medical campus looked like a frieze of an undulating, gravel-brown sea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
I slip on my sweater and hustle past all my classmates who are cramming for the test that’s about to start or squealing about summer plans even though middle school is not over yet.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
