IM
noun
IM
1 American
[ahy-em]
/ ˈaɪˈɛm /
verb (used without object)
IM'd,
IMed,
IM'ing,
IMing
IM
2
American
abbreviation
-
Swimming. individual medley.
-
Sports. intramural.
-
Also I.M. Isle of Man.
I'm
3
American
[ahym]
/ aɪm /
im-
4
American
im-
5
American
im-
6
American
-im
7
American
IM
1
British
abbreviation
-
computing instant messaging
-
Also: i.m.. intramuscular
-
chess International Master
I'm
2
British
/ aɪm /
contraction
im-
3
British
prefix
im
4
British
abbreviation
Usage
See contraction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of IM1
First recorded in 1990–95
Origin of -im7
From Hebrew
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:
"Goonhilly will provide the backbone for this network, scales our global ground presence, and will bring a strategic core competency to the Intuitive Machines team," said Steve Altemus, CEO of IM.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
Operating expenses rose 5.5% from a year earlier to 8.71 billion euros, in part due to restructuring charges related to the the AXA IM integration, BNP Paribas added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
By watching how spirals move in the IM Lupi disc over time, the team could tell that they were caused by a new planet being born and not a planet growing bigger!
From Space Scoop ● Oct. 24, 2025
She holds the world record in the 400 IM; she swam it in 4:24.38 at last year’s Canadian swimming finals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2025
There were also dark secrets people didn’t much talk about, along with a gray market of gossip that could spread the ill-informed rumor as fast as any IM or text network.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
"I'm going to try do what I know how to, but it won't be a complete break either."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
You think I’m letting my client’s horror movie premiere on the same day as a MrBeast video?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
I’m sure you don’t want to burden your stepdad, but he should be included in these talks, too.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Lisa-Kaindé: The older we grow, the more religious I’m becoming … but Naomi lives her spirituality in very different ways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
I’m a man, and a man should defend his home.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The sheriff listened with a distracted look on his face, but when I said I was going to see the judge, he agreed to move the child into a protected area im- mediately.
From MSNBC ● Oct. 22, 2014
Penn keeps you wondering whether he's going to im- or explode.
From Time Magazine Archive
Entitled Education for Ministry, Feilding's work concludes that seminary teaching tends to be evangelically uninspiring and professionally im- practical.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their managers always have the im- pression that the voters who do not vote would vote for their candidates if they got to the polls.
From Time Magazine Archive
And so some Roman habitations not im- probable in these parts, as high as the time of Vespasian, where the Saxons after seated, in whose thin-filled maps we yet find the name of Walsingham.
From Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend by Browne, Thomas, Sir
Originally the Accusative Singular ended in -im, the Ablative Singular in -ī, and the Accusative Plural in -īs; but these endings have been largely displaced by -em, -e, and -ēs, the endings of Consonant-Stems.
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
Of the others, many at times show -im and -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
Their true character as Consonant-Stems, however, is shown by the fact that they never take -im in the Accusative Singular, or -ī in the Ablative Singular.
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
Town and river names in -is regularly have -im, -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
Words marked with a star regularly have Acc. -im; those marked with a † regularly have Abl. -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)
There’s a folksy, faux-naïveté to her art, as im “Revelation,” a striking vertical panel in which an ancestor of the artist hides a treasure, then comes to her in a dream to reveal its location.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
“Im trying to get updates on whether world war 3 is on but all im seeing are fat JD vance memes.”
From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2025
When Women’s March shared information about an upcoming rally on Instagram, one person responded, “No im tired, yall have fun though.”
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2024
“Im ok, just a lil soreness, but im in good spirits.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2024
I'm not just saying this because im incarcerated I honestly mean every word.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
IM's effort follows that of another private entity, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, which set off for the Moon in early January but could not even attempt a landing because of technical problems.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2024
Working with my then-adviser, the Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, I analyzed the U.S. government data to show how the trajectory and other properties of IM’s fireball were consistent with the meteor having an interstellar origin.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 5, 2023
Michael Garin, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Image Nation, said Cannes had generated significant interest for IM's film version of Dave Eggers's novel "The Circle".
From Reuters ● May 20, 2015
Mark Zuckerberg’s undergrad IM’s, scorning the “dumb” users of Facebook’s prototype, presaged the privacy policies of his $164 billion company today.
From Time ● May 30, 2014
In the final 50 meters of the IM’s freestyle leg, she swam faster than Ryan Lochte did in that portion of his gold-medal-winning 400-meter IM.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2012
They’ve checked in via text, email, IMs, chats and every other way imaginable since the disaster made national and world news.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2025
He qualified in the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 backstroke.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2021
Four of the six Olympic medals won by László Cseh between 2004 and 2012 came in IM and then Katinka Hosszú swept gold in the IMs four years ago in Rio de Janeiro.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2021
When I begrudgingly accept that the worst has happened, I quickly go into my emails or IMs with the deceased for clues.
From The Guardian ● May 24, 2016
After all the IMs I felt like I knew him, but now with him standing in front of me it doesn’t feel that way at all.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
One last thing: A friend IM’d me a theory this morning that I want to run by you guys and the readers: “The show depicts paranoia, social anxiety, and hallucinations,” he wrote.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2012
“That explains why you haven’t asked me yet! Guess what. Corey IM’d me! We chatted for, like, almost an hour.”
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
Nancy IM'd Ned again: "How can I find him?"
From "Case of the Sneaky Snowman: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #5" by Carolyn Keene
I said yes to a request from Markie's parents to babysit the next day, and I IM’d JonPaul to see how he was feeling.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
Through this, he found my personal email and started IM'ing me constantly.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2012
"I was sick of that fabric being all bundled up there," he IMed back.
From Time Magazine Archive
In addition…introverted participants profited from IMing more than did extraverts.”
From Scientific American ● Jul. 31, 2015
In the movie: No IMing that we see, which makes sense, considering the Fault and Paper Towns screenwriters took out most of the video game playing in Fault.
From Time ● Jul. 24, 2015
It’s pretty reliably running things, IMing the other body parts like crazy, regulating chemicals, making calculations and responding to stimuli, half the time without you even knowing about it.
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2013
He and his friends have co-ed parties, go ice skating together, and never stop IMing.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2012
It was a long bus ride and I must have dozed off a little -- staying up late IMing with Ange was hard on my sleep-schedule, since Mom still expected me down for breakfast.
From Little Brother by Doctorow, Cory
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.
