scrammed; scramming
: to go away at once
scram, you're not wanted
: a rapid emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor
Examples of scram in a Sentence
Verb
The vandals scrammed before the police could arrive.
Recent Examples on the Web
Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 11 Oct. 2024
As of now, one man sits on a small dock off each island, telling onlookers to scram.
—Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2019
When Fleck makes a young boy on the bus laugh with his goofy faces, he’s immediately met with a threat from the boy’s mother to cut it out and scram.
—David Betancourt, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2019
In three seasons with the Pacers (before Donnie Walsh ditched him after Indiana brought back Larry Bird) and two more with the Knicks (before Walsh, again, told him to scram), Thomas has a 187-223 record (.456).
—Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 8 May 2018
Michael Koziol, IEEE Spectrum, 1 June 2018
But initially, safety protocols kicked in; called a scram, the protocols led to control rods being inserted into the reactors to shut down the nuclear reactions and bring the plant to a halt.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2018
The nukes, as people who work in such plants are called, refer to the sudden shutdown of fission as a scram.
—Washington Post, 30 May 2017
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Verb
Zoom in: Privacy and security are big: The house has a private gate and parking so no one has to use the main door, security offices for guests' staff and a bedroom with a secret exit should important visitors need to scram.
—Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 11 Oct. 2024
As of now, one man sits on a small dock off each island, telling onlookers to scram.
—Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2019
When Fleck makes a young boy on the bus laugh with his goofy faces, he’s immediately met with a threat from the boy’s mother to cut it out and scram.
—David Betancourt, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2019
In three seasons with the Pacers (before Donnie Walsh ditched him after Indiana brought back Larry Bird) and two more with the Knicks (before Walsh, again, told him to scram), Thomas has a 187-223 record (.456).
—Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 8 May 2018
Noun
Such a shutdown is called a scram.
—Michael Koziol, IEEE Spectrum, 1 June 2018
But initially, safety protocols kicked in; called a scram, the protocols led to control rods being inserted into the reactors to shut down the nuclear reactions and bring the plant to a halt.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 5 Oct. 2018
The nukes, as people who work in such plants are called, refer to the sudden shutdown of fission as a scram.
—Washington Post, 30 May 2017
Cite this Entry
“Scram.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scram. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
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