"spam" meaning in English

See spam in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /spæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav [UK] Forms: spam [singular], spams [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. Spam refers to random messages on the Internet. If you receive many messages that advertise things or were sent without you asking for them, you are getting spam. Synonyms: junk mail, advertising
    Sense id: simple-spam-en-noun-Xn-1xwYU
  2. A spam is a single random message. A single occurrence of spam.
    Sense id: simple-spam-en-noun-umatx15z

Verb

IPA: /spæm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav [UK] Forms: spam [canonical], spams [third-person, singular], spammed [past], spammed [past, participle], spamming [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|spam|m}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you spam someone, you send many random electronic messages (spam) to that person.
    Sense id: simple-spam-en-verb-wf8quEYE
  2. If you spam, you send spam.
    Sense id: simple-spam-en-verb-0EHNbeUL Categories (other): Verbs
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spam",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There are many online computer programs that send spam to users."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Spam refers to random messages on the Internet. If you receive many messages that advertise things or were sent without you asking for them, you are getting spam."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spam-en-noun-Xn-1xwYU",
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "internet"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "junk mail"
        },
        {
          "word": "advertising"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He received 65 spams to his e-mail account yesterday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spam is a single random message. A single occurrence of spam."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spam-en-noun-umatx15z",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable",
        "rare",
        "internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spam"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spam",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spams",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spammed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spamming",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spam",
        "2": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I hate it when people spam my forum."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spam someone, you send many random electronic messages (spam) to that person."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spam-en-verb-wf8quEYE",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "internet"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Verbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I don't like the guy who spams people every day."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spam, you send spam."
      ],
      "id": "simple-spam-en-verb-0EHNbeUL",
      "raw_tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spam"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spam",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There are many online computer programs that send spam to users."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Spam refers to random messages on the Internet. If you receive many messages that advertise things or were sent without you asking for them, you are getting spam."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "internet"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "junk mail"
        },
        {
          "word": "advertising"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He received 65 spams to his e-mail account yesterday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spam is a single random message. A single occurrence of spam."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable",
        "rare",
        "internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spam"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spam",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spams",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spammed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spamming",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "spam",
        "2": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I hate it when people spam my forum."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spam someone, you send many random electronic messages (spam) to that person."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "internet"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Intransitive verbs",
        "Verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I don't like the guy who spams people every day."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you spam, you send spam."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/spæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spam.wav",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spam"
}

Download raw JSONL data for spam meaning in English (2.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-08 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (51d164f and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.