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
exclamationwowamenhelloalasboohurrahahemohwhoopeehoorayshuckserouchrahahegadgollyheyhuhExamples 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