cram

1 of 2

verb

ˈkram 

crammed; cramming

transitive verb

1

: to pack tight : jam

cram a suitcase with clothes

a novel crammed with surprises

2

a

: to fill with food to satiety : stuff

b

: to eat voraciously : bolt

the child crams her food

3

: to thrust in or as if in a rough or forceful manner

crammed the letters into his pocket

4

: to prepare hastily for an examination

cram the students for the test

intransitive verb

1

: to eat greedily or to satiety : stuff

2

: to study a subject intensively especially for an imminent examination

crammer noun

cram

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noun

1

: a compressed multitude or crowd : crush

2

: last-minute study especially for an examination

Synonyms

Verb

• crowd
• crush
• jam
• ram
• sandwich
• shoehorn
• squeeze
• stuff
• wedge

Noun

• army
• bike [chiefly Scottish]
• crowd
• crush
• drove
• flock
• herd
• horde
• host
• legion
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• press
• rout
• scrum
• swarm
• throng

Examples of cram in a Sentence

Verb

He crammed the suitcase with his clothes.

Before the trip I crammed my head with information about Spain.

Noun

battling the rush-hour cram in the subway

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Promoters cram as many acts as possible into a single night to maximize ticket revenue. —Andrew Bird, Baltimore Sun, 28 Dec. 2024

At the moment of the strike, 52 people — including Hazem and Nidal Malaka — were crammed into the bottom two floors. —Patrick Kingsley, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024

Noun

Tennessee Titans summer reading cram session Big change at the top: The Titans fired coach Mike Vrabel in January and replaced him with Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, a first-time head coach with a QB-coaching background. —Nick Suss, The Tennessean, 19 July 2024

Today’s Connections groups are... Yellow group — punch Green group — cram Blue group — companies named after animals Purple group — homophones of music genres What Are Today’s Connections Answers? Spoiler alert! —Kris Holt, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian; akin to Old Norse kremja to squeeze

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

1810, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing cram

• cram in

Kids Definition

cram

verb

ˈkram

crammed; cramming

1

: to stuff or crowd in

cram clothes into a bag

2

: to fill full

barns crammed with hay

3

: to study hard just before a test

crammer noun

Biographical Definition

Cram 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

ˈkram 

Donald James 1919–2001 American chemist

Cram

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biographical name (2)

Ralph Adams 1863–1942 American architect and author