am
verb
1st person singular present indicative of be.
am
1 American
[am, uhm, m]
/ æm, əm, m /
verb
Am
2
American
Symbol, Chemistry.
AM
3
American
abbreviation
-
Electronics. amplitude modulation: a method of impressing a signal on a radio carrier wave by varying its amplitude.
-
Radio. a system of broadcasting by means of amplitude modulation.
-
of, relating to, or utilizing such a system.
-
Asian male.
Am.
4
American
abbreviation
-
America.
-
American.
A/m
5
American
a.m.
6
American
abbreviation
-
before noon.
-
the period from midnight to noon, especially the period of daylight prior to noon.
Shall we meet Saturday a.m.?
-
a morning newspaper, sometimes issued shortly before midnight.
A.M.
7
American
am
1
British
verb
Am
2
British
symbol
AM
3
British
abbreviation
-
associate member
-
Assembly Member (of the National Assembly of Wales)
-
Albert Medal
-
Master of Arts
-
Also: am. amplitude modulation
-
See a.m.
-
Member of the Order of Australia
-
Armenia (international car registration)
Am.
4
British
abbreviation
am
5
British
am
6
British
abbreviation
A/M
7
British
abbreviation
a.m.
8
British
abbreviation
AM
Scientific
Usage
The abbreviation a.m. for Latin ante merīdiem, meaning “before noon,” refers to the period from midnight until noon. One minute before noon is 11:59 a.m. One minute after noon is 12:01 p.m. Many people distinguish between noon and midnight by saying 12 noon and 12 midnight. Expressions combining a.m. with morning ( 6 a.m. in the morning ) and p.m. with afternoon, evening, or night ( 9 p.m. at night ) are redundant and occur most often in casual speech and writing. Both a.m. and p.m. sometimes appear in capital letters, especially in printed matter.
Etymology
Origin of am1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English am, eam, eom; cognate with Gothic im, Old Norse, Armenian em, Old Irish am (from unattested esmi ), Attic Greek eimí, Aeolic Greek émmi, Doric Greek ēmí (all from prehistoric Greek esmi ), Hittite esmi, early Lithuanian esmì, Old Church Slavonic yesmĭ, Albanian jam (from unattested esmi ), Sanskrit ásmi, from unattested Proto-Indo-European ésmi, from root es- “to be” + -m 1st person singular + -i, present-time marker; cf. is
Origin of AM3
First recorded in 1935–40
Origin of a.m.6
From Latin ante merīdiem
Origin of A.M.7
A.M. ( def. 2 ) from Latin Artium Magister
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
So I am a bit bewildered as pundits declare that the success of “The Odyssey” reflects some larger theme about what film audiences want.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
“The whole league should know who I am, what I do in the box, and they should be aware of it,” Caballero said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
"I really don't care what other people have to say. I know who I am," said Cunningham, when asked about the reaction.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
"I just felt like, am I making a mistake? I'm just taking so much time away from my family to do this, is it worth it?"
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“And I am sure of it, my dear. But we must have the doctor’s verdict too.”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
A follow-up photographic survey confirmed the wreckage was of the Clipper Endeavor, providing images that revealed the Pan Am logo and aircraft's name were still visible on the fuselage.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Am I ungrateful if I turn him down?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Am I supposed to watch myself and imitate myself?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Am I emphasizing it was meaningless because the USA lost the game?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Too bad we can’t just let it go, let it go. Am I right, Doctor?”
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
As he makes his way down Massachusetts Route 128, past the Stop & Shops, his AM radio keeps him company and gives him everything he needs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
The ledger also lists Doha, Qatar, as the address for a mysterious entity called AM FIG Cayman Limited, which invested around $10 million in 2020.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, commonly called AM fungi, form mutually beneficial relationships with approximately ~70% of plant species worldwide.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
His favorite is 1984’s jazzy “2:00 AM Paradise Cafe,” on which he collaborated with Mulligan, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Tormé.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
By six AM, he'd been sitting in the cockpit's scorching heat for nearly an hour.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
The label ‘Negroes’ was commonplace in America through the 1960s—and as late as the 2010 census, a category of ‘Black, African Am., or Negro’ remained, but the Census Bureau subsequently dropped that label.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
"I. Am. The. Fury!" she intones before executing a somewhat flawless flying reverse turning kick.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2023
“I. Am. Fuh-reezing. Feel my hand — I’m still cold,” said Ruth Marshall, 64, who was seated on a park bench, face to the sky.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 23, 2015
As my colleague Jeff Zeleny explained in January, the word appears as part of one of the racial categories on this year’s census form: “Black, African Am., or Negro.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2010
Then I slap my palms in three sets of three on the table, like a tabla accompaniment: "I. Am. Black," I say.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
According to the criminal complaint, Truelove sneaked into a restricted area of the Rockefeller Plaza lobby just before 9 a.m. on July 16, following an employee who used an identification card to swipe in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The new levies will go into place at 12:01 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The new levies will go into effect at 12:01 a.m.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Sacramento would see sunrise as late as 8:24 a.m., and San Francisco, 8:25 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
It was 8:30 a.m., and the sun was bright when Theodore Roosevelt stepped ashore in Rio de Janeiro.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
“Overall, there are benefits to the use of telematics,” said Chris Draghi, a director at A.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Insurance shoppers can also measure an insurer’s financial strength by checking its credit rating through agencies like A.M.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
An industry praised for its resilience is now “significantly worse off” as it invests huge sums in private credit, A.M.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
“We’re significantly worse off,” said Erik Miller, A.M.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
A.M. and P.M. still had full heaping bowls of creamy goodness when Otto, TimeStar, and Petey entered the Nice Dream Ice Cream shop.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.