glom

American  

[glom] / glɒm /

verb (used with object)

glommed, glomming

1. to steal.

2. to catch or grab.

3. to look at.

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noun

1. a look or glimpse.

verb phrase

1. glom onto to take hold or possession of.

   He wanted to glom onto some of that money.

glom British  

/ ɡlɒm /

verb

1. to attach oneself to or associate oneself with

2. to acquire, esp without paying

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Etymology

Origin of glom

1895–1900, compare Scots glaum, glam to snatch at, glammis jaws of a vise, apparently < Scots Gaelic glàm to grab, clutch, influenced by clam ²

Explanation

To figuratively grab or seize something is to glom onto it. A local newspaper might simply glom onto whatever stories the larger national papers are covering. While you can also use glom to simply mean "steal," as when a pickpocket gloms your wallet in the subway, today we often use this verb to describe a kind of latching on to an idea, issue, or topic. If polls show most voters care about income inequality, every single candidate is likely to glom onto this theme in some way. The "steal" meaning is oldest, an American word borrowed from the Scottish glaum.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

glom glommed glomming

These days, a horror film must also be a blistering allegory for real life, with plenty of subtextual significance for the thinking viewer to glom onto.

From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026

In anti-LGI1 encephalitis, the second most common of these diseases after anti-NMDAR encephalitis, autoantibodies glom onto and impede LGI1 protein, which is found in synapses and helps regulate the transmission of electrical signals between neurons.

From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2024

This so-called Wiedemann-Franz law has held ever since -- except in quantum materials, where electrons stop behaving as individual particles and glom together into a sort of electron soup.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2023

These nasty, bloodsucking parasites glom on to you when you least suspect it.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 7, 2023

She says it’s because I’m “the right person for the job,” but I know she’s just trying to glom off my reputation as the main guy behind the paper chain project.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Villarreal: The way people like glommed onto it, like it was all over TikTok with captions like, “This is me in my kitchen.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2025

Elon Musk, previously a longtime Signal fan, glommed onto Rufo’s posts to allude to “known vulnerabilities with Signal,” in a tweet that saw him get corrected by his own beloved Community Notes feature.

From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2025

Although it, too, contained these microspheres, they had glommed together into clumps of uneven size.

From Science Magazine ● May 21, 2024

“I immediately glommed onto Dawn because I’ve had that internal experience.”

From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2024

Brad glommed him glumly in the gloaming, with more than a glimmer of gloomy foreboding.

From The Sloths of Kruvny by Fearing, Vern

Wall Street is glomming on to yet another acronym inspired in part by Mexican cuisine.

From MarketWatch ● May 9, 2026

It is alienating, and you wonder what it is, and whether it’s genuine or just a way of publicly glomming on to the perceived grievances and resentments of his supporters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026

The pairing of the previous version of the bill, coupled with Newsom's puzzling Skittles example led to the internet glomming onto the rainbow candies as a prized, yet incorrect, example.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2023

And then there are organic materials that could alter things by glomming on to plastic particles, as well as the ways these particles may interact with other atmospheric chemicals or influence cloud formation.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 20, 2021

Or glomming onto Nick and Leah, so Martin won’t try to talk to me.

From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

Related Words

• apprehend
• capture
• catch
• detain
• imprison
• incarcerate
• jail
• round up
• seize