hummed

verb

past tense of hum
1
as in buzzed
to be copiously supplied one restaurant was humming with diners, while a neighboring eatery was practically empty

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in zipped
to fly, turn, or move rapidly with a fluttering or vibratory sound a helicopter hummed overhead

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hummed After the team’s historic, championship-clinching summer, Thursday’s preseason matchup hummed with energy. — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 9 Oct. 2026 At a local senior residence center this week, the participants hummed with lindens and then headed into the art room to reflect on paper, using sepia-brown linden ink. — Kendra Nordin Beato, Christian Science Monitor, 8 Oct. 2026 Duke also knew that in the country’s beautiful capital, Budapest, cafés hummed with arguments about poetry and politics, the press was relatively free, and Jewish businesses were still open. — Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026 Pastel Colonial buildings lined the streets, their facades glowing in the afternoon sun, while the plazas hummed with life. — Chantelle Kincy, Travel + Leisure, 19 Sep. 2026 The bleachers were packed, and for the first time all day the air hummed with genuine enthusiasm. — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026 As the tattoo machine hummed across her leg, Savanna Georges watched another chapter of her faith take shape in ink. — Kansas City Star, 1 Aug. 2026 The town's only hospital hummed with ambulances, burial teams and a steady stream of patients. — Brittney Melton, NPR, 21 July 2026 DeChambeau hummed and whistled and messed with the 15 or so reporters still waiting him out. — Brody Miller, New York Times, 17 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hummed
  1. buzzed
  2. zipped
  3. burst
  4. whispered
  5. bulged
  6. whirred
Verb
  • By morning, firefighting aircraft were back in the air dropping water on the Bryson fire in Malibu while the sound of generators purchased by outage-weary residents and business owners buzzed through the canyons.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The doorbell rang constantly as patient after patient walked up to the white window and the volunteer receptionist buzzed them in for their appointments.
    — Tamar Hallerman, AJC.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of buzzed
Verb
  • Brunson zipped into the Schutz Mikki Up boot in a rich burgundy leather.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • In the gowning area, three dedicated valets zipped and snapped me into a purple bunny suit.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of zipped
Verb
  • When that bubble burst in the Panic of 1893, a third of railroads went bust, more than 500 banks failed, and the economy plunged into a four-year depression.
    — Ming Lu, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • When a bank of televisions showed horses bursting through the starting gate, feet stomped on the club’s carpet.
    — Abe Streep, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of burst
Verb
  • Robotic claws whispered along branching tracks, clutching boxy carriers beneath them like prizes in an arcade game.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • My skin would tingle whenever Iverson got close to that mic and whispered along its neck, as if his breath were actually going over my neck too.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of whispered
Verb
  • By later in the day, the second lake had bulged — sparking fears of another lethal torrent.
    — Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2026
  • My husband Grant Wahl's bulged and burst, at an age when this disease usually means something inherited.
    — Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News, 13 July 2026
Definition of bulged
Verb
  • Powerful cutters have whirred to life on a giant drill that will begin boring a new train tunnel under the Hudson River connecting Manhattan to New Jersey.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The studio whirred to what has been described as Aison’s fresh and distinct take on the police helicopter angle, which really hasn’t been explored since 1983’s thriller Blue Thunder.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of whirred

Browse Nearby Words

humility
hummed
hummer
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Cite this Entry

“Hummed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hummed. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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