Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- interj. Used to express doubt or uncertainty or to fill a pause when hesitating in speaking.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as om.
- n. A prefix of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian origin, meaning ‘around, about,’ cognate with ambi- and amphi-. It was formerly common, but is now wholly obsolete, except in a few Scotch words.
Wiktionary
- prep. Alternative form of umbe.
- interj. Expression of confusion or space filler in conversation. See uh.
- v. intransitive To make the um sound to express confusion or hesitancy.
- n. alternative spelling of µm.
Etymologies
- A Latin-script rendering of µm. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Further and further away we started finding some success.. however unfortunately.. for our um personal..um reasons.. those we chose not to stay at.”
“I will……um……..send…….um…….the ACLU a um, um Christmas card………um…..because…..um…….they exist?”
Think Progress » The solution for all your holiday shopping problems.
“Lady: Uh .. um … well, I’m trying to … I mean, no ma’am there is no Lakisha here….um….”
“Japhet," replied Mr Cophagus; "um, scriptural -- Shem, Ham, _um_ -- and so on.”
“If I may please, didn't Cain ... um .... murder Abel?”
“This guy ... doesn't prescribe Lyrica, since it's a "newer drug that I don't know much about" (to which I was like, um, is it not your job to keep up on the newer drugs? and also Lyrica's been around for quite a while and is the medication most often used to treat my condition, dude), and doesn't prescribe "any sleep aids" (despite the very high comorbidity of insomnia).”
“I'm 47 in um .. 11 days and keep telling everyone I'm 'knocking 50'.”
“I found certain um, scenes in the beginning very disturbing.”
“If I'm wrong I apologize, but I call um as I see um.”
Tell Congress to Go To Hell With their Current Health Reform
“Powders put in um, sensitive areas, will burn, sting and be uncomfortable with those essential oils.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘um’.
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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Sounds often heard during a search fo...
um, er, hmm, ah, well, �?��?��?�, erm, uh, um-um-um, ehm, anu, gizmo and 11 more...
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I speak Warhol
Words that make me think of Andy Warhol, for whatever reason.
pop, gee, factory, superstar, screen test, silver, silkscreen, Sleep, soup, Marilyn Monroe, speed, voyeur and 23 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 457 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
Moby-Dick
Interesting words and usages.
hypo, spile, hunks, grapnel, squitchy, skrimshander, monkey jacket, direful, grego, wrapall, dreadnaught, bosky and 158 more...
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Acceptable two-letter Scrabble words
aa, ab, ad, ae, ag, ah, ai, al, am, an, ar, as and 89 more...
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I Live a (SOWPODS) Hardscrabble Life
aa, ad, ae, ah, ai, am, an, ar, as, at, aw, ax and 168 more...
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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the hotlist
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/...zing, epic, win, fail, hot, warp, times, clip, onyx, wonky, pwn, leet and 1493 more...
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Filler Words
or, as some Speaking teachers say (I suspect to annoy me), "word whiskers"
um, umm, er, errr, hmm, hmmm, soooooo, yeah, and, like, well, uh and 18 more...
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for me not to overuse when public-spe...
um, ah, if you will, sort of, well, so, kind of, like, you know, man, dude, totally and 11 more...
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2 Letter Scrabble Words
All playable 2 letter Scrabble words from OSPD4
aa, ab, ad, ae, ag, ah, ai, al, am, an, ar, as and 87 more...
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cbars420's Words
boob, wiener, monkey, dookie, anal, breast, tit, melon, student, teach, kitten, sex and 82 more...
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banned
alot, woulda, really, like, um, random, okay, totally, sort of, in my mind, would of, sort've and 13 more...
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Like
These are words I like.
professional, exumed, catacomb, zombie, blueberry, snap, zazzy, positive, shit, ridiculous, redonkulous, hood and 5 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for um.
yarb "Faith, sir, I've-"
"Faith? What's that?"
"Why, faith, sir, it's only a sort of exclamation-like--that's all, sir."
"Um, um; go on."
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 127 Jul 30, 2008