Ham

/ˈhæm/ · noun

Meaning

(anatomy) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock..

Definitions by Sense

1. (anatomy) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.
2. (countable) A thigh and/or buttock of a hog slaughtered for meat; (occasionally) the corresponding cut from some other animal.
3. (uncountable) Meat from the thigh and/or buttock of a hog cured for food.
4. The back of the thigh of humans or certain other animals.
5. (Internet, informal, uncommon) Electronic mail that is wanted; email that is not spam or junk mail.
6. Obsolete form of home.
7. (acting) An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.
8. (radio) An amateur radio operator.

Example Sentences

"I'll have you so your hams will stand out like horse's shanks!" de declared.

a little piece of ham for the cat

She put some ham in the beans and cut up some sweet potatoes to boil.

Writing in The New Yorker in 2005, James Wood praised Mr. McCarthy as “a colossally gifted writer” and “one of the great hams of American prose, who delights in producing a histrionic rhetoric that brilliantly ventriloquizes the King James Bible, Shakespearean and Jacobean tragedy, Melville, Conrad, and Faulkner.”

Near-synonym: camp it up

Synonyms for ham

Antonyms for ham

Related Words

Word Forms

• hams
• hamming
• hammed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions