1
: a rotating or sliding piece (such as an eccentric wheel or a cylinder with an irregular shape) in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion or vice versa
2
: camshaft
an engine with a single overhead cam
: camera
especially
: video camera
1
computer-aided manufacturing
2
complementary and alternative medicine
Examples of cam in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Oct. 2025
Rocha drove away from the scene, leaving Vasquez’s body lying in the middle of the road at Clay Street and East 21st Avenue, according to dash cam footage played in the courtroom.
—Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 3 Oct. 2025
In July, during Coldplay's Music of the Spheres tour stop at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, Byron suddenly appeared on a kiss cam alongside Kristin Cabot.
—Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 1 Oct. 2025
The kiss cam focused not on the attendees, but on couples plucked from Netflix’s various reality dating shows.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cam
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Noun
The pet cam showed Rio laying on the floor, directly in front of the television, watching it intently.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Oct. 2025
Rocha drove away from the scene, leaving Vasquez’s body lying in the middle of the road at Clay Street and East 21st Avenue, according to dash cam footage played in the courtroom.
—Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 3 Oct. 2025
In July, during Coldplay's Music of the Spheres tour stop at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, Byron suddenly appeared on a kiss cam alongside Kristin Cabot.
—Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 1 Oct. 2025
The kiss cam focused not on the attendees, but on couples plucked from Netflix’s various reality dating shows.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cam
Cite this Entry
“Cam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cam. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cam
1 of 2 noun
: a device by which circular motion may be transformed into stop-and-start or back-and-forth motion
cam
2 of 2 nounEtymology
Noun
perhaps from French came "cam," from German Kamm, literally, "comb"
Medical Definition
CAM
abbreviation2
complementary and alternative medicine
According to a 2002 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics, 36 percent of adults in the United States used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including naturopathy, relaxation techniques, chiropractic, yoga, massage, and diets.—In-Sung Yoo, The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware)
In-Sung Yoo, The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware)Geographical Definition
Cam
geographical name
river 40 miles (64 kilometers) long in Cambridgeshire, east central England, flowing into the Ouse River
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