Word.ws English Dictionary

jam

[ˈd͡ʒeəm] ~ [ˈd͡ʒɛəm]/ˈd͡ʒæm/

jam noun: a sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts. Also the alternative form of jamb.

Noun (1)

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

  1. (uncommon) A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
    • He is allergic to jam.
    • She loves eating jam for breakfast in hotels.
    Synonyms:
    conserve, jelly, preserve
  2. (countable) A difficult situation.
    • It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand.1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston
    • She was married when we first met / Soon to be divorced / I helped her out of a jam, I guess / But I used a little too much force1975, Bob Dylan, “Tangled Up in Blue”
    1. (countable) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.
      • The pitcher's in a jam now, having walked the bases loaded with the cleanup hitter coming to bat.
  3. (countable) A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
    • a jam on the 101 South, blocking the two right lanes [radio report]
    • a jam of logs in a river
    Synonyms:
    jam-up
  4. (common, countable) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
  5. (broadly, countable, informal) A song; a track.
    • pump up the jam
    • And a mix CD titled "Summer Jamz 2000." Jamz is spelled with a "z".2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI, volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 23 Aug 2025, page 16
  6. (broadly, countable) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
    • We came up with some new ideas at the game jam.
    • […] a day at new Farm Park with an art jam, fursuit games, and a nerf war, ending in the evening at the strike Wintergarden bowling center.2017, Fred Patten, Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015, page 92
  7. (countable, slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
    • Teaching is my jam.
  8. (countable) A forceful dunk.
  9. (countable, roller derby) A play during which points can be scored.
    • Toughie scored four points in that jam.
  10. (countable) Any of several manoeuvres requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
    • I used a whole series of fist and foot jams in that crack.
  11. (Australia) The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
  12. (UK, slang) Luck.
    • He's got more jam than Waitrose.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (Canada, slang) Balls, bollocks, courage, machismo.
    • I don't think he has the jam.
  2. (slang) Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
  3. (slang) Something enjoyable; a delightful situation or outcome.
    • ’Tis fine to be a pretty girl, or just a gay and witty girl,
      And obviously to be both is rightly counted jam,
      But even more desirable, and clearly less acquirable,
      Is that mysterious quality denominated glam.1939 July 19, The Bulletin, Sydney, page 14, column 1

Verb

jam (third-person singular simple present jams, present participle jamming, simple past and past participle jammed)

  1. To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
    • My foot got jammed in a gap between the rocks.
    • Her poor little baby toe got jammed in the door.
  2. To brusquely force something into a space; to cram, to squeeze.
    • They temporarily stopped the gas tank leak by jamming a piece of taffy into the hole.
    • The rush-hour train was jammed with commuters.
  3. To render something unable to move.
    • Considering the results of the CFD wind simulation, the NTSB designed several series of static and dynamic elevator load tests to determine what conditions, consistent with the known circumstances of the accident, could enable the inboard actuating crank and links of the right elevator's geared tab...2019 February 14, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.3.3 Elevator Load Testing”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Runway Overrun During Rejected Takeoff, Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc., dba Ameristar...
  4. To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up".
    • A single accident can jam the roads for hours.
  5. To block or confuse a radio or radar signal by transmitting a more-powerful signal on the same frequency.
    • The government jams foreign propaganda broadcasts.
    • The airstrike suffered minimal casualties because electronic-warfare aircraft were jamming the enemy air-defense radars.
  6. To turn (fruit) into jam.
  7. To add jam to; to cover with jam.
    • ‘Just look at me. All jammed and dripping in a public street.’1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 56
  8. To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.
    • Jones was jammed by the pitch.
  9. To dunk.
  10. To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
  11. To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.
    • When he tripped on the step he jammed his toe.
  12. (roller derby) To attempt to score points.
    • Toughie jammed four times in the second period.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (transitive) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
    • It won't do to jam her,” answered Stone ;" but it might be worth findin' out if th' Hope won't lie closer than t' other can." Half a point ----"(Can we date this quote?), William Clark Russell, The Golden Hope
  2. (Canada, informal) To give up on a date or some other joint endeavour; to stand up, chicken out, jam out.
  3. (colloquial) To be of high quality (especially for music).
    • I love this song! This song jams!

Noun (2)

jam (plural jams)

  1. (dated) A kind of frock for children.

Noun (3) capitalized: JAM

JAM (plural JAMs)

  1. (UK, informal) A household that is only barely able to meet its financial obligations.
    • Well, technically, a Jam is a working-class Brexit voter who feels alienated by the creeping march of globalisation.2016 November 20, “Jam – the new government acronym ‘just about managing’ to make sense”, in The Guardian
    • Although most of the income for JAM families comes from work, it is, in many cases, topped up by welfare support.2019 February 13, Tahir Maher, “Just About Managing (JAM)”, in Liberal Democrat Voice

Proper noun capitalized: Jam

Jam

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Jamaica.

Also used as

jam is also the alternative form of jamb.

jam meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

jam in Hindi

sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar
जाम jām, मुरब्बा murabbā

jam in Tamil

ஜாம், ஜாம் செய்ய

jam in Marathi

जाम, जॅम, जाम करण्यासाठी

jam in Urdu

sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar
جام jām, مُرَبَّا murabbā
More languagesFewer languages
jam in Bengali
জ্যাম jêm
jam in Telugu
జామ్, జామ్ చేయడం, జామ్ చేయడానికి
jam in Malayalam
ജാം, ജം, ജാം ചെയ്യാൻ
jam in Kannada
ಜಾಮ್, ಜ್ಯಾಮ್, ಜಾಮ್ ಮಾಡಲು
jam in Punjabi
ਜਾਮ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਜੈਮ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
jam in Gujarati
જામ, જામ કરવા માટે, જામ કરવા
jam in Odia
ଜାମ୍, ଜାମ, ଜାମ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
jam in Sinhala
ජෑම් jǣm
jam in Nepali
जाम, ज्याम, जाम गर्न
jam in Pashto
مربا morabã
jam in Tagalog
diyam
jam in Arabic
مُرَبًّى murabban, شَوَّشَ šawwaša
jam in Malay
jem, selai, jelai
jam in Indonesian
selai
jam in Persian
پارازیت فرستادن pârâzit ferestâdan
jam in Thai
แยม yɛɛm
jam in Vietnamese
mứt
jam in Myanmar
ယို yui

Examples of jam in a sentence

  • I jammed the top knuckle of my ring finger.
  • Where, where is my common sense? / How did I get in a jam like this?1977, David Byrne, “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”, in Talking Heads: 77, performed by Talking Heads:
  • The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams.2001, Jet, volume 100, number 22, page 25:
  • Jamm’d in at midnight, in cold winter weather,1779, George Colman, Farewell Epilogue, spoken at Wynnstay after the representation of Cymbeline and The Spanish Barber, 22 January, 1779...

All 40 example sentences with jam

Synonyms of jam

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of jam

Forms of jam

Noun
pluraljams
alternative formjama
pluralJAMs
Verb
third-person singular presentjams
present participlejamming
past participlejammed
pastjammed

Past tense of jam: jammed

Plural of jam: jams

Origin of jam

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic. The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.

Borrowed from Persian جامه (“garment”) and/or Hindustani (Hindi जामा (jāmā) / Urdu جامہ (jāma)), meaning "garment, robe". Related to pajamas and pyjamas.

Initialism, from just about managing.

Words formed from jam

Phrases with jam

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with jam

47 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about jam

What does jam mean?
Jam means a sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts.
What is jam in Hindi?
Jam in Hindi is जाम (jām), मुरब्बा (murabbā). See Jam meaning in Hindi.
How do you use jam in a sentence?
I jammed the top knuckle of my ring finger.
What part of speech is jam?
Jam can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce jam?
Jam is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒæm/ (UK).
What is the plural of jam?
The plural of jam is jams.

Words near jam in the dictionary

  1. jalt
  2. Jaltabaoth
  3. Jaluit
  4. Jalur Gemilang
  5. Jalžabet
  6. jam
  7. jam auction
  8. jam auctions
  9. jam band
  10. jam bands
  11. jam doughnut

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jam (page history and authors); JAM (page history and authors); Jam (page history and authors); jam (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jam (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-jam.ogg, En-uk-jam.ogg.

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