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:
IM said its customers "had been clear that they wanted a single, integrated, and resilient solution for their communications".
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
That night I only IM with him until 2 A.M. instead of our usual 3 A.M.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "I'm shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting in Kraków today."
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
"I hope I'm not going to get in trouble for this but there was one penalty for not supporting your weight at the breakdown and it was against us," said Jones.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
“When I’m mayor, we’ll cut tents and encampments in half by the Olympics, and bring everyone in tents and encampments indoors by the end of my first term.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026
“And the nice thing is that I’m making more money in a month than I would teaching an adjunct class.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 7, 2026
I take out my camera and the tripod, and in a few minutes, I’m all set up.
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
Entitled Education for Ministry, Feilding's work concludes that seminary teaching tends to be evangelically uninspiring and professionally im- practical.
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
The documentary, directed by Patrick Farrelly and Kate O'Callaghan, shows Maron prowling the corridors like a prima donna permanently on the verge of im- or ex-ploding.
From Time Magazine Archive
"No, no — it's no such thing!" he said, with im- patience.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Of the others, many at times show -im and -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
Town and river names in -is regularly have -im, -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
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 Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
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 Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
Words marked with a star regularly have Acc. -im; those marked with a † regularly have Abl. -ī.
From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett
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
Citing a source, the Post quoted the message this way: “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all. It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 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
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
With 19-year-old Emma Weyant taking silver in the women’s race, behind Japan’s Yui Ohashi, and Hali Flickinger winning bronze, the Americans earned the maximum four of the available six medals in the 400 IMs.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 24, 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
If you can get it working, though, you’ll be rewarded with a new tab at the bottom of the Gmail app, giving you access to your IMs.
From The Verge ● May 13, 2021
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
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
He keeps IMing me to ask when we can get together and discuss the “disconnect” he’s been feeling.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2017
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
We began to talk every morning and night while IMing throughout the day.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2013
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 Cory Doctorow
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