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:
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
The robot had been directed to a cratered terrain near the Moon's south pole, and the IM team believes it got very close to the targeted site - perhaps within a couple of kilometres.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2024
I closed the IM window and checked the time.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
"I'm looking forward to getting back to what I love most, my family and my work," she wrote.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I didn’t think about how hard it actually would be, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not going to be able to find them.’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
"It always happens in other markets. But I want to keep my good players. I'm looking forward more to signing new players rather than losing the ones we have here."
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
I’m cheating a little, because both records were part of the same sessions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
“You know you can tell me anything—even if I get upset at first, I’m always going to calm down and be there for you. Both you and Arlo.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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
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
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
Poe's childhood is a crystal ball wherein the seer discovers an im- placable inferiority feeling fastened upon the sensitive orphan son of an itinerant actress and a disinherited Baltimore mooncalf.
From Time Magazine Archive
"No, no — it's no such thing!" he said, with im- patience.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy, Thomas
Town and river names in -is regularly have -im, -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)
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)
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)
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
"I've learned i've healed, and im loving the woman i've become! Thats what this next era means to me and i'm stepping into it better than ever," she wrote.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2025
“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
I just wanted you to know that im deeply sorry for my actions I think about what happened every second, I pray that you heal correctly & that you recover and live a happy life.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
IM's 675kg Odysseus lander is about the size of an old British telephone box.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 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
The Stasi employed more than 90,000 regular workers and 174,000 informal ones, or IMs, whose role was to spy on friends, family and work colleagues and report information to designated handlers.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 18, 2019
After taking home Olympic silver in the 400 individual medley last year, 23-year-old Chase Kalisz will compete in the 200 and 400 IMs at worlds.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 4, 2017
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
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
“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
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.
