Word.ws English Dictionary

hmm

UK/hm̩/

hmm interjection: indicates thinking or pondering.

Interjection

  1. Indicates thinking or pondering.
    • Hmm... that's an interesting idea.
    • Hmm... I just can't decide between the two.
  2. Indicates surprise or cluelessness; especially a response by a person who is questioned or addressed when not expecting it.
    • "You there! Where are you going?" "Hmm? Oh, I just need to get a drink."
    • "Could you pass me the paring knife?" "Hmm? What's a paring knife?"
  3. A demand for an answer to a question.
    • Just where were you until 2 a.m.? Hmm?

Verb

hmm (third-person singular simple present hmms, present participle hmming, simple past and past participle hmmed)

  1. (intransitive) To make a thoughtful humming noise.

Noun capitalized: HMM

HMM (plural HMMs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of hidden Markov model.

hmm meaning in Malay

hmm in Malay

indicating thinking or pondering
hm

Examples of hmm in a sentence

  • Sometimes even the most precious pamper packer princess wants to role play, hmm?
  • Hmm, I guess Murray hadn't warned him that Nicki was a toilet clogger.
  • "Hmm." "Problem?" "Arianna warned me this might be a challenging shoot.

All 18 example sentences with hmm

Synonyms of hmm

Forms of hmm

Interjection
alternative formhm
alternative formhum
alternative formhmmm
alternative formh'm
Verb
third-person singular presenthmms
present participlehmming
past participlehmmed
pasthmmed
Noun
pluralHMMs

Origin of hmm

See hum.

Phrases with hmm

Questions about hmm

What does hmm mean?
Hmm means indicates thinking or pondering.
What is hmm in Malay?
Hmm in Malay is hm. See Hmm meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is hmm?
Hmm can be an interjection, a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce hmm?
Hmm is pronounced /hm̩/ (UK).

Words near hmm in the dictionary

  1. HMI
  2. HMICFRS
  3. HMIS
  4. hmlt.
  5. hmlts.
  6. hmm
  7. hmmed
  8. hmmf
  9. hmming
  10. hmmm
  11. hmmph

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hmm (page history and authors); HMM (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-hmm.ogg.

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