um

Interjection

1. Expression of hesitation, uncertainty or space filler in conversation.
   • Um, I don’t know.
   • Let’s see... um... how about this?

   Synonyms:

   er, hmm, uh, eh

2. (US) Dated spelling of mmm.
   • "About the same, wherever you go," he agreed.
     "Um," I said.1963, Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, Dell Publishing Co., Inc., page 65
3. An expression to forcefully call attention to something wrong.
   • Um, excuse me!
4. (childish) An expression of shocked disapproval used by a child who witnesses forbidden behavior.
   • While I was in her room, Sam walked by and said, “Um, I'm telling!”
     “You're telling what?” I asked.
     “You're reading Tori's journal,” she said.2011, Kimberly Willis Holt, Piper Reed: Clubhouse Queen, page 83
   • Mair used to look after Laura. If anyone threatened to tease her, Mair would stand up straight, point her finger at the enemy and shout, 'Um! I'm telling on you!'2021, Sarah Strangeways, The Gingerbread House, page 13

Verb

um (third-person singular simple present ums, present participle umming, simple past and past participle ummed)

1. (intransitive) To make the um sound to express uncertainty or hesitancy.
   • Meanwhile, in the popular mind umming was simply a bad habit, akin to spitting or picking one’s nose.2007, Michael Erard, Um... Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean, page 136

Noun (1)

um (plural ums)

1. An occurrence of the interjection "um".
   • Although Shakespeare refers to “hums and ha’s,” sifting through etiquette manuals and public-speaking guides turns up scant evidence of a prohibition against ums, ers and uhs, which are profuse in the first recording of Thomas Edison’s voice, in 1888. Mr. Erard, rather ingeniously, traces the...2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013

Particle

um

1. (dated, humorous, offensive, often, sometimes) An undifferentiated determiner or article; a miscellaneous linking word, or filler with nonspecific meaning; representation of broken English stereotypically or comically attributed to Native Americans.
   • Me be Injun. Him um Growling Bear. Him um heap big chief.
   • “me heap brave—me talk to um white man so[…] me good injun, like um white man, mebbe so, ugh!”1871, “Grand camp meeting on Bear River”, in The Keepapitchinin, volume III, page 3

Proper noun (1) capitalized: UM

UM

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of University of Miami.
2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of University of Michigan.

   Synonyms:

   UMich, Michigan

Noun (2) capitalized: UM

UM (plural UMs)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of unmounted mint.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Um

Um

1. A surname from Korean.