hum
Americanverb (used without object)
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hums,
present (3rd person singular)
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hummed,
past participle, past
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humming
present participle
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to make a low, continuous, droning sound.
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to give forth an indistinct sound of mingled voices or noises.
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to utter an indistinct sound in hesitation, embarrassment, dissatisfaction, etc.; hem.
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to sing with closed lips, without articulating words.
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to be in a state of busy activity.
The household hummed in preparation for the wedding.
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British Slang. to have a bad odor, as of stale perspiration.
verb (used with object)
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hums,
present (3rd person singular)
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hummed,
past participle, past
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humming
present participle
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to sound, sing, or utter by humming.
to hum a tune.
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to bring, put, etc., by humming.
to hum a child to sleep.
noun
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hums
plural
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the act or sound of humming; an inarticulate or indistinct murmur; hem.
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Audio. an unwanted low-frequency sound caused by power-line frequencies in any audio component.
interjection
verb
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(intr) to make a low continuous vibrating sound like that of a prolonged m
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(intr) (of a person) to sing with the lips closed
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(intr) to utter an indistinct sound, as in hesitation; hem
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informal (intr) to be in a state of feverish activity
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slang (intr) to smell unpleasant
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slang (intr) to scrounge
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See hem 2
noun
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a low continuous murmuring sound
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electronics an undesired low-frequency noise in the output of an amplifier or receiver, esp one caused by the power supply
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slang a scrounger; cadger
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slang an unpleasant odour
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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humsimple
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humssimple
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have hummedperfect
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has hummedperfect
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am hummingprogressive
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are hummingprogressive
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is hummingprogressive
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have been hummingperfect progressive
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has been hummingperfect progressive
Past
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hummedsimple
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had hummedperfect
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was hummingprogressive
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were hummingprogressive
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had been hummingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hum
1300–50; Middle English; ultimately imitative; cognate with German hummen to hum; cf. humblebee
Explanation
To hum is to make a low, steady, singing sound with your mouth closed. If you don't know the words to a song on the radio, you can just hum along. Other hums are based on the musical hum, making a similar low, constant sound. Bees hum, an electric fan hums, and your car idling quietly also hums. A figurative way to hum is to be busy and loud: "The cafe always seemed to hum with activity." The word hum is imitative (it sounds like the noise it describes), but its earliest form was hommen, in the 1500s, meaning "make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment."
Vocabulary lists containing hum
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:
Stone said during the Carrington Event, "even telegraph wires were heard to hum and crackle, and they were able to run the telegraph poles without any electricity because the input was so high".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The set begins with a crackle and a hum on “The Outside,” as if tuning into a faint radio transmission from the other side of the world, and then Ms. Bridgers’s voice arrives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Drexl, two PhD research fellows and a postdoc studied 28 people in Germany who reported hearing an unexplained hum or buzz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
At Maywood’s Riverfront Park, Ma was accompanied by the vroom of nearby traffic, cascade of a yucca rainstick and burbling hum of a water synth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
She kept her gaze on the Snapfinger Cemetery, where a great hum had started.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Even on an early Tuesday afternoon in July, the brightly lit, bustling space hums with high energy as a lunchtime crowd of New Yorkers tightly navigates the narrow aisles with oversized canvas bags.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
As he watches dishes cook, he hums along in Persian to the music playing in his restaurant.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
The group hums in agreement, offering dispatches from their own lives about thorny friendships.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
His award-winning series “Samurai Jack,” for example, hums with long spans of silence.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026
He sits now and hums and looks out the window.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Upon their arrival at the court, the man, identified by authorities as Marc B., had twice shouted "I love you" in French, while the boy’s mother, identified as Marine R., hummed a melody.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
Beats hummed, lights glimmered and about 200 young men and women traded emerald-green tiles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
On a rainy Thursday afternoon in November, the Collaboratory hummed with volunteers packing donated home goods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
Her phone was kept on silent; electro-beats hummed in the background; digestive biscuits were devoured.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Pond then hummed and swayed his long body back and forth.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
When Lucy* puts her child to bed, she hears a constant humming.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
And since Nvidia isn’t a chip manufacturer, it is reliant on others to keep production humming and revenue growing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The insects protect their queen, collecting in a roiling, humming mass on his hand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Do you sometimes notice a deep buzzing or humming noise that seems to have no identifiable source?
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
I heard her humming a happy little tune as she went to her room.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
