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It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on glaum (a term from Scots dialect that basically means “to grab”) and appropriated it as their own, changing it to glom in the process. Glom first meant “to steal” (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched to include figurative uses. Today the term is most familiar in the phrase “glom on to,” or “glom onto,” which can mean “to appropriate for one's own use,” as in “glomming on to another's idea”; “to grab hold of,” as in “glommed onto the last cookie”; “to latch on to,” as in “glom on to an opinion” or “glom onto an influential friend”; or “to become aware of,” as in “glomming onto the potential of this new technology.”
Synonyms
Examples of glom in a Sentence
Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
Subsequently, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah glommed on to the Big 12 while Stanford and California went bi-coastal, accepting last-minute refuge in the ACC.
—Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2019
The church uncritically glomming onto the latest LM for its liturgical, educational, or pastoral work will compound the harm in this area already inflicted by the long, lonely slog of the pandemic.
—Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 3 Sep. 2024
Two different types of supplements are glomming onto the popularity of GLP-1 agonist drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide, which mimic a natural appetite-suppressing, blood-sugar-regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1.
—Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 14 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for glom 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'glom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Glom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glom. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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