um
or umm
[uhm, uhn, uh m, uh n]
- (used as an expression of doubt, hesitation, deliberation, interest, etc.)
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
exclamation, wow, amen, hello, alas, boo, hurrah, ahem, oh, whoopee, hooray, shucks, er, ouch, rah, ah, egad, golly, hey, huhExamples from the Web for um
Contemporary Examples
“Um, I have one now, for one,” Kirke laughs, about that new relationship.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical MusicKevin Fallon
December 23, 2014
Um, when I first heard of it, it was somebody hitting me up on Twitter telling me I should be playing Whitney.
Um, I was getting ready for Talking Dead so I would try to check in, but I also was like a little bit…scared?
And Glenn, Tara, and Rosita spend the episode, um, learning to fish.
The Walking Dead’s ‘Crossed’: The Stage Is Now Set for a Bloody, Deadly Midseason FinaleMelissa Leon
November 24, 2014
Er, um, because the people dying of Ebola in West Africa are black?
Historical Examples
Them ribbons don't keep her f'um rockin'; she's all through!
Old Man CurryCharles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
"Um," grunted the depot master, knocking the ashes from his cigar.
The Depot MasterJoseph C. Lincoln
So fair a lady is meant for another kind of, um, never mind!
The Valor of Cappen VarraPoul William Anderson
"Um," said the other man, as the tail-lights of the train grew small.
Soldiers Three, Part II.Rudyard Kipling
Um—a—oh—this new man we hear of—Monsieur Kashkine, of Moscow.
The GeniusMargaret Horton Potter
um1
- a representation of a common sound made when hesitating in speech
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um2
- US Minor Outlying Islands
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for um
a sound denoting hesitation, 1670s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper