Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • interjection Used to attract attention or to express doubt or warning.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An utterance designed to attract attention, express doubt, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • interjection An exclamation to call one's attention; hem.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection onomatopoeia the sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat
  • interjection an exclamation or cough to get attention
  • interjection an exclamation of disapproval or annoyance
  • interjection an exclamation to indicate sarcasm
  • noun A use of the interjection, ahem.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the utterance of a sound similar to clearing the throat; intended to get attention, express hesitancy, fill a pause, hide embarrassment, warn a friend, etc.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Finally, this week's ending illustration is by Naruko Hanaharu, a familiar name amongst certain circles * ahem ahem*.

    Anime Nano! 2008

  • If it turns out the book is untrue or exaggerated, he will be all "that doesn't have a place in ahem, ahem, blah blah."

    Obama camp uses McClellan book to attack McCain 2008

  • KJ knows I secretly dread the day I start going bald (when this "pig fur" will be gone from the world forever), so the other day she said that she read somewhere that male baldness is caused by an abundance of hormones that usually indicated health in ... ahem ... other areas.

    And One to Grow On Jessica 2008

  • July 23rd, 2004 at 2: 47 am ahem is right. but its nice to remember there is a world going on.

    Monster waves seen from space 2004

  • In plain English - ahem - what we have, in the form of the 11th session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol and the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, is a short sharp meeting that will largely focus on where the two parallel tracks of climate negotiations that made little headway at

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

  • In plain English - ahem - what we have, in the form of the 11th session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol and the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, is a short sharp meeting that will largely focus on where the two parallel tracks of climate negotiations that made little headway at

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2010

  • * That "ahem"-ing you hear in the background is pal Dorian clearing his throat, for some reason.

    Archive 2005-11-13 2005

  • * That "ahem"-ing you hear in the background is pal Dorian clearing his throat, for some reason.

    Archive 2005-11-13 2005

  • And in my life there is a lot of room for individual improvement before I started "ahem" - ing in the agora.

    Grist - the Latest from Grist 2009

  • The condition is called misophonia -- literally "hatred of sound" -- and occurs when a common noise, whether it's something like a person chewing loudly, water dripping or someone "ahem"-ing, causes you to become anxious or angry, more so than a typical response, TODAY reported.

    Misophonia: When Annoying Noises Send You Into A Rage The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

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