Word.ws English Dictionary

a.m.

a.m. adverb: in the 12-hour period from midnight to noon (the first half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock. Also the initialism of ad modum.

Adverb (1)

a.m. (not comparable)

  1. In the 12-hour period from midnight to noon (the first half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.
    • Greenfield … Monday thru Friday, 9 to 12 a.m.1967, United States Travel Service, Plant Tours for International Visitors to the United States, page 49
    • One of the most common night shifts is the 12 a.m.-to-8 a.m. shift.2001, Customs Service effects of proposed legislation on officers' pay, United States General Accounting Office, page 45
    Synonyms:
    in the forenoon

Noun capitalized: A.M.

A.M. (countable and uncountable, plural A.M.s)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of anno mundi.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Master of Arts.

Adverb (2) capitalized: A.M.

A.M. (not comparable)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of a.m. (“before noon”).

Also used as

a.m. is also the initialism of ad modum.

a.m. meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic

a.m. in Hindi

before noon
सुबह के subah ke

a.m. in Urdu

before noon
صبح کے subah ke

a.m. in Tagalog

before noon
n.u.

a.m. in Arabic

before noon
قَبْلَ الظُّهْر qabla ẓ-ẓuhr, صَبَاحًا ṣabāḥan, ص ṣ
More languagesFewer languages
a.m. in Malay
pagi
a.m. in Persian
پیشین pišin, پیش از نیمروز piš az nimruz, ق.ظ

Examples of a.m. in a sentence

  • The 12-hour clock uses A.M. for the morning hours of midnight (12:00 A.M.) to almost noon (11:59 A.M.) and the P.M. designation for the hours from noon (12:00 P.M.) to almost midnight (11:59 PM).2009, Robert Bill, Medical Mathematics and Dosage Calculations for Veterinary Professionals, page 348:
  • Some AI startups are taking the workplace back to the dark ages, adopting the Chinese “9-9-6 work schedule” in which employees toil from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. six days a week from Monday to Saturday.2025 August 4, Bryan Robinson, “The ‘9-9-6 Work Schedule’ Could Be Coming To Your Workplace Soon”, in Forbes, archived from the original on...

Synonyms of a.m.

  • in the forenoon

Antonyms

  • p.m.
  • in the afternoon

Forms of a.m.

Adverb
alternative forma. m.
alternative formam
alternative formAM
alternative formA. M.
alternative formA.M.
alternative USa
alternative USA
Noun
pluralA.M.s

Origin of a.m.

Abbreviation of ante meridiem (“before noon”).

Questions about a.m.

What does a.m. mean?
A.m. means in the 12-hour period from midnight to noon (the first half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.
What is a.m. in Hindi?
A.m. in Hindi is सुबह के (subah ke). See A.m. meaning in Hindi.
How do you use a.m. in a sentence?
The 12-hour clock uses A.M. for the morning hours of midnight (12:00 A.M.) to almost noon (11:59 A.M.) and the P.M. designation for the hours from noon (12:00 P.M.) to almost midnight (11:59 PM).
What part of speech is a.m.?
A.m. can be an adverb or a noun.

Words near a.m. in the dictionary

  1. a.i.
  2. A.I.s
  3. a.k.a.
  4. a.l.
  5. A.L.J.
  6. a.m.
  7. a.m.a.
  8. A.M.A.s
  9. A.M.s
  10. A.N. Other
  11. a.o.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: a.m. (page history and authors); A.M. (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-a.m..ogg.

Cite this entry: “a.m..” Word.ws, https://word.ws/a.m.. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.