cam

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈkam 

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

cam

2 of 3

noun (2)

: camera

especially : video camera

CAM

3 of 3

abbreviation

1

computer-aided manufacturing

2

complementary and alternative medicine

Examples of cam in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The birds in question are Jackie and Shadow, the Big Bear Lake bald eagle pair whose live nest cam has drawn a global following. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2026

So anyone and anything can become a stand-in for their outrage, even if the target didn’t do anything to hurt any of us, like the random woman who got death threats after she was caught on cam with her boss at a Coldplay concert. — Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026

The American Civil Liberties Union and Public Counsel, along with other groups and private attorneys, included the body cam footage in a court filing asking a federal judge to bar immigration agents from making stops based on racial profiling. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026

The Brooks River live-cams captured a young brown bear cub being killed and eaten by an unrelated mother bear (Bear 806) on Tuesday morning. — Annie Colbert, Popular Science, 29 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

perhaps from French came, from German Kamm, literally, comb, from Old High German kamb

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1777, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1969, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing cam

• body cam
• cam girl
• cam wheel
• dash cam

Rhymes for cam

• am
• bam
• cham
• clam
• damme
• damn
• dram
• flam
• fram
• gram
• ham
• jam

Kids Definition

cam

1 of 2 noun

ˈkam 

: a device by which circular motion may be transformed into stop-and-start or back-and-forth motion

cam

2 of 2 noun

: camera sense 2

Etymology

Noun

perhaps from French came "cam," from German Kamm, literally, "comb"

Medical Definition

CAM

abbreviation

1

cell adhesion molecule

2

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)

Geographical Definition

Cam

geographical name

ˈkam 

river 40 miles (64 kilometers) long in Cambridgeshire, east central England, flowing into the Ouse River