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• Spam
  Spam

  a canned food product consisting especially of pork formed into a solid block.
• spam
  spam

  verb

  to send unsolicited electronic mail or text messages simultaneously to a number of e-mail addresses or mobile phones

Spam

American  

[spam] / spæm /

Trademark.

1. a canned food product consisting especially of pork formed into a solid block.

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noun

1. (lowercase) disruptive online messages, especially commercial messages posted on a computer network or sent as email (often used attributively).

   Install spam blocker software and keep your email spam filters updated to protect your accounts from unsolicited spam.

adjective

1. (lowercase) (of promotional content on the internet) irrelevant or misdirected.

   The search engine delivered spam websites that had nothing to do with my keywords.

verb (used with object)

spammed, spamming

1. (lowercase) to send spam to.

2. (lowercase) to execute (an action) or use (an item) rapidly or repeatedly in a video game.

   Spam the attack button as soon as the fight begins.

verb (used without object)

spammed, spamming

1. (lowercase) to send spam.

Spam ¹ British  

/ spæm /

noun

1. a kind of tinned luncheon meat, made largely from pork

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spam ² British  

/ spæm /

verb

1. to send unsolicited electronic mail or text messages simultaneously to a number of e-mail addresses or mobile phones

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noun

1. unsolicited electronic mail or text messages sent in this way

spam Cultural  

1. Unsolicited, undesired e-mail. Also used as a verb. Spam is the e-mail version of junk mail.

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Discover More

The name comes from a Monty Python comedy skit about a restaurant that served only Spam.

Other Word Forms

• spammer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Spam

First recorded in 1937 for the trademarked term; sp(iced) + (h)am ¹; 1990–95 for the other senses, probably referring to a comedy routine on Monty Python's Flying Circus, British TV series, in which the word Spam is used repeatedly

Explanation

There are few things more annoying than an email inbox full of spam. Spam is unwanted internet advertising that's sent to a huge number of people at a time. In 1937, a canned meat product named Spam was introduced by Hormel Foods, which said that its name was a combination of the words spiced and ham. Later, in a 1970 comedy sketch, the word was used in a silly song, in which the name of the food product was repeated over and over, drowning out the conversation. Not until the early 1990s did the more modern definition of spam come into use, referring to mass-distributed email advertisements under which more important content gets buried. As a verb, to spam is to send such a message.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Spam spam spammed spamming

He had fond memories of eating Spam during a stint in the army, for instance, so she cooked a dish of Spam fried rice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025

Hormel Foods HRL -0.70%decrease; red down pointing triangle is cutting 250 corporate and sales jobs as part of a restructuring, the food company that owns brands including Planters, Skippy and Spam said Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025

Hormel, which is best known as the parent of the Spam and Planters brands, recently cut its profit outlook amid higher-than-expected costs for meat, as well as nuts.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2025

Spam is a very funny crack that reduces “meaty painting,” high praise for the gestural muscularity recently demanded of Abstract Expressionist art, to a commercially processed product.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2024

In January the Underdowns showed up as a complete surprise from Léopoldville.They came in Mr. Axelroot’s plane, when the most we were really expecting was Potato Buds and Spam.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Rupireddy searched his spam, junk and trash email folders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

"We've essentially built a scientific spam filter," Professor Barnett said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026

However, Kathryn said she tried everything to stop "intrusive" adverts but updating her settings or clicking on mark as spam buttons did not prevent baby adverts popping up on her feeds weeks after a miscarriage.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

Meanwhile, telemarketing and spam phone calls have reached epidemic levels: Americans are bombarded with robocalls — roughly 4 billion to 5 billion every month — despite decades of regulation.

From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026

And, setting aside the question of raw spam, the plain fact is that some information is simply more interesting than others.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

Before the pandemic, Xu remembers being spammed in recruitment group chats with new job postings every spring and fall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

The term refers to low quality AI-generated images and text, usually produced in large volumes and spammed across social media.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025

They are being spammed with it,” she says.

From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024

Meanwhile, self-published authors now have to contend with an onslaught of AI-generated content on Amazon, and certain sci-fi magazines have had to close submissions altogether — they were getting spammed with too many AI creations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023

“And my cousin Molly. She spammed me with quotes for a week straight.”

From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli

There is, however, one promising trend: Consumers who are sick of this paid spamming are taking it to court.

From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026

“How much money did you waste spamming Californians? Do you know how many hundreds of millions of dollars you wasted?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026

“It will discourage companies from spamming the system and provide certainty to employers who actually need to bring the top-tier talent from overseas,” Rogers said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

It found 79 million emails and 1 million texts were sent out over a seven-month spamming campaign.

From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2024

The illiterate message can send itself automatically, as image or as speech, as video or as Internet spamming, whatever best hits its human target, to people's addresses.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin