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• ram
  ram

  noun

  a male sheep.
• RAM
  RAM

  noun

  random-access memory; computer memory available to the user for creating, loading, or running programs and for the temporary storage and manipulation of data, in which time of access to each item is independent of the storage sequence. As a storage medium, RAM is volatile, so its contents are lost when the power fails or is turned off.
• R.A.M.
  R.A.M.

  abbreviation

  Royal Academy of Music.
• Ram
  Ram

  noun

  the constellation Aries, the first sign of the zodiac
• r.a.m.
  r.a.m.

  abbreviation

  relative atomic mass

ram

¹ American  

[ram] / ræm /

noun

1. a male sheep.

2. Astronomy, Astrology. Aries, the constellation or sign of Aries.

3. any of various devices for battering, crushing, driving, or forcing something, especially a battering ram.

4. (formerly) a heavy beak or spur projecting from the bow of a warship for penetrating the hull of an enemy's ship.

5. (formerly) a warship so equipped, especially one used primarily for ramming enemy vessels.

6. the heavy weight that strikes the blow in a pile driver or the like.

7. a piston, as on a hydraulic press.

8. a reciprocating part of certain machine tools, as the toolholder of a slotter or shaper.

9. hydraulic ram.

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verb (used with object)

• rams,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rammed,
  past participle,  past
• ramming
  present participle

1. to drive or force by heavy blows.

   Synonyms:

   hammer, beat, thrust, jam

2. to strike with great force; dash violently against.

   The car went out of control and rammed the truck.

3. to cram; stuff.

   They rammed the gag into his mouth.

4. to push firmly.

   to ram a bill through the Senate.

5. to force (a charge) into a firearm, as with a ramrod.

ram ² American  

[ram] / ræm /

noun

Australian, Now Rare.

1. a confidence man's associate who acts as a decoy; confederate; shill.

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RAM ³ American  

[ram] / ræm /

noun

1. random-access memory; computer memory available to the user for creating, loading, or running programs and for the temporary storage and manipulation of data, in which time of access to each item is independent of the storage sequence. As a storage medium, RAM is volatile, so its contents are lost when the power fails or is turned off.

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RAM ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. reverse annuity mortgage.

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R.A.M. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Royal Academy of Music.

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ram ¹ British  

/ ræm /

noun

1. an uncastrated adult sheep

2. a piston or moving plate, esp one driven hydraulically or pneumatically

3. the falling weight of a pile driver or similar device

4. short for battering ram

5. Also called: rostrum, beak. a pointed projection in the stem of an ancient warship for puncturing the hull of enemy ships

6. a warship equipped with a ram

7. slang a sexually active man

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verb

1. to force or drive, as by heavy blows

   to ram a post into the ground

2. (of a moving object) to crash with force (against another object) or (of two moving objects) to collide in this way

   the ships rammed the enemy

3. (tr; often foll by in or down) to stuff or cram (something into a hole, etc)

4. (tr; foll by onto, against etc) to thrust violently

   he rammed the books onto the desk

5. (tr) to present (an idea, argument, etc) forcefully or aggressively (esp in the phrase ram ( something ) down someone's throat )

6. (tr) to drive (a charge) into a firearm

Ram ² British  

/ ræm /

noun

1. the constellation Aries, the first sign of the zodiac

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RAM ³ British  

/ ræm /

acronym

1. random access memory: semiconductor memory in which all storage locations can be rapidly accessed in the same amount of time. It forms the main memory of a computer, used by applications to perform tasks while the device is operating

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r.a.m. ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. relative atomic mass

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RAM ⁵ British  

abbreviation

1. Royal Academy of Music

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RAM Scientific  

/ răm /

1. Short for random access memory. The main memory of a computer, in which data can be stored or retrieved from all locations at the same (usually very high) speed.

2. See also dynamic RAM static RAM

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RAM Cultural  

1. Acronym for r andom a ccess m emory, which is a type of memory in which a reader can go to a specific item without having to start at the beginning. Random access memories can often be altered once an item is found. (See computer memory and magnetic memory storage; compare ROM.)

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Discover More

hard drives on a computer are an example of RAM.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rammer
  noun
• ramlike
  adjective
• unrammed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• ramming
  present
• rammed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ram
  simple
• rams
  simple
• have rammed
  perfect
• has rammed
  perfect
• am ramming
  progressive
• are ramming
  progressive
• is ramming
  progressive
• have been ramming
  perfect progressive
• has been ramming
  perfect progressive

Past

• rammed
  simple
• had rammed
  perfect
• was ramming
  progressive
• were ramming
  progressive
• had been ramming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ram
  simple
• will have rammed
  perfect
• will be ramming
  progressive
• will have been ramming
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of ram¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun ram, ram(m)e “male sheep, machine for ramming,” Old English ramm, romm; cognate with Dutch, Low German ram, German Ramme; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of ram²

First recorded in 1940–45; origin obscure; possibly from British criminal argot ramp “swindle”

Origin of RAM³

r(andom)-a(ccess) m(emory)

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Explanation

A male sheep or goat is called a ram. If you're a fan of reading your horoscope, you might notice that Aries, usually considered the first sign of the zodiac, is represented by a ram. Another kind of ram is a "battering ram," a tool for forcing a heavy door open or breaking a hole in a wall. This kind of ram comes from the male sheep and his powerful horns — and so does the verb ram: "I watched the rams ram their heads into each other as they battled over territory." Some word experts think the word stems from the Old Norse rammr, "strong."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ram RAM R.A.M. Ram rams rammed ramming

For example, in 2021, a dozen Turkish bottom trawlers fishing illegally in the Aegean Sea tried to ram a Greek research vessel when the scientists began filming their activity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Beginning with tobacco, they refitted the dusty doctrine as a battering ram and swung it at guns, lead paint, opioids and oil companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

"We are F1 drivers. We should not look like kids and clowns trying to ram into each other. That's not what F1 needs."

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Astronomers have already found evidence that ram pressure stripping is affecting M88 today.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026

The ram pranced away and led our friends to a narrow path that wound up the rocky mountainside.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

The artificial-intelligence build-out has sent RAM into a major global shortage that has led to high prices and large profits for memory makers, including Micron.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

"This could be extremely useful when thinking about next-generation spintronics and RAM architectures."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

In Tokyo's tech hub of Akihabara, Charles Brousse, a 30-year-old graphic designer and custom PC builder from Belgium, said prices for RAM, graphics cards and motherboards have hit "ridiculous levels".

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

Security is anchored in a proprietary protocol and server technology that runs entirely in RAM to ensure all data is wiped upon reboot.

From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2026

Halliday’s first computer had been a TRS-80, with a whopping 16K of RAM.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

He had been working on a paper about R.A.M., the genetic marker that Andrew had.

From New York Times ● May 12, 2016

L.S.T. and R.A.M. are one and the same thing.

From Lectures in Navigation by Ernest Gallaudet Draper

We admire the enthusiasm of Mr. Ricketts for Velasquez, and his analysis is second to none save R.A.M.

From Promenades of an Impressionist by James Huneker

Written and composed by James C. Beazley, R.A.M.—There is no such title as R.A.M.

From The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355, October 16, 1886 by Charles Peters

Anti-gas research was at first centred in the R.A.M.

From The Riddle of the Rhine; chemical strategy in peace and war by Victor Lefebure

Ram shipments increased though, with demand driven by the company’s V8-powered Ram light-duty truck and the new Ram 1500 TRX SRT.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

At the next checkpoint, however, soldiers pulled back the bales to reveal the Cadillac and the Ram.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Ram wonders if he will ever get any answers.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

"But the global Ram market has impacted us the same way it's impacted everybody."

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

“Well, it makes her intention good,” Mr. Ram said, getting up from his walker upon seeing Mom’s car pull up.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

That also explains why, and how, his devoted rams, lambs and ewes are able to dedicate themselves to solving his murder.

From Salon ● May 17, 2026

"We don't have the means to pay for her studies," she explained from their home's back courtyard, where young children capered about and two rams watched from an enclosure.

From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026

At the opposite extreme is Scotland's Soay sheep, with just 0.6% full siblings because each ewe mates with multiple rams.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2026

Few artists can draw from both worlds, but they collided in her debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?—pillow-soft vocals and blown-out drums, singer-songwriter lullabies and sonic battering rams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025

A doctor dabs some orange stuff onto the side of my chest and then rams a small plastic tube in me.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

Instead of being at the site where Al-Qaeda hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center towers, Trump will pay his respects on Friday at the Pentagon in Washington.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

“There are serious fair trial and due process violations in these cases, and they are being rammed through the revolutionary courts and fast-tracked.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

A long-serving magistrate who rammed a woman out of the way while attempting to park in a hospital disabled bay has been given a suspended prison sentence.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

Murillo claimed he was rammed; prosecutors said the collision happened at less than 10 miles per hour and was “more of a jolt.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2026

He rammed his hat on and hurried away.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Mat Swanigan, 37, designed a custom lock for a set of french doors his dog kept ramming into.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Researchers say ramming has not previously been documented as an orca predation strategy.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Without referring to Beijing by name, the nations' foreign ministers criticised "dangerous manoeuvres by military aircraft" and "ramming and blocking actions in the South China Sea".

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

Initially the ramming was reported as an "active shooter incident".

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026

On Friday morning, the familiar sound of Asher ramming his wheelchair into my door stirs me out of my restless sleep in my dorm room.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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Related Words

• cram
• crash
• run into
• sink
• slam
• smash
• stab
• thrust

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