humming

American  

[huhm-ing] / ˈhʌm ɪŋ /

adjective

1. making a droning sound; buzzing.

2. very busy; briskly active.

   a humming office.

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Other Word Forms

• hummingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of humming

First recorded in 1570–80; hum + -ing ²

Example Sentences

As guests took their first bites of salads in the humming ballroom, a 31-year-old man approached.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

Punjabi music has always dominated the South Asian diaspora in the United States, on the television, humming from car stereos, mainly stayed inside those domestic spaces to private life that rarely entered into the mainstream.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026

Inside a small lab tucked away in the National Botanical Gardens of Wales in Carmarthenshire, humming freezers full of labelled silver packets are the last line of defence to save wild species from extinction.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

But John San Marco, senior research analyst at Neuberger Berman, thinks consumers have “enough in the tank” to power through and keep the economy humming.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

All well and good, but for our purposes these otherwise-valuable insights are mere subplots almost designed to carry us down side trails while blithely humming a tune about the rough equivalence of forests and trees.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis