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
“I won’t take this laying down anymore IM DONE!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2023
The silence would be much less noticeable over IM.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
“Once I had him with two strikes I said, you know what, I’m going to throw that slider,” Yan said through an interpreter after the Mets’ 6-5 victory in 10 innings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
"It hasn't really had a huge impact that I'm aware of," she added.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
That’s why I’m confused why people who have money change their behavior, and adopt a belief that some people are valued higher as human beings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
I’m a woman of color and I live in a very culturally diverse American city.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Midnight, knowing I’m not a horseman, is perfectly still.
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
In the maneuver, the black king was safely im- planted, then the rook was shrewdly returned.
From Time Magazine Archive
During his childhood in San Francisco, he and his father, a railroad man with a passion for the tenor sax, would im- provise hymns at Presbyterian Sunday school.
From Time Magazine Archive
That too goes back to San Diego, where he halted runaway development and im- posed what became a widely imitated blueprint for "managed growth."
From Time Magazine Archive
This prefix thus appears as am-, an-, em-, en-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, as ambush, anoint, embrace, enclose, illude, immure, include, irritate.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
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)
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)
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)
In a heavily redacted message, Epstein wrote: “Hi , im jeffrey. Brett ratner thought we should meet.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 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 really don’t know why I did what I did but I hope you dont think im evil im actually good.
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
He IMs when he can—in between classes or, sometimes, right in the middle of one.
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
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
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
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
At its heart, the piece portrays a divide between people who like IMing and people who don’t—but it doesn’t give any real evidence that this is specifically a generation gap.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2018
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
I ended up IMing with Ange for quite a while that night.
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.
