mmm.

interj.  an expression of sympathy or empathy.

<What a shame.  Mmm.  I know how it feels to lose your vocation. —Doug Marlette, The Bridge.> <Even as I murmur mmm’s of sympathy, I am rifling through my mental Rolodex searching for someone who can take the children just for today.  —Allison Pearson, I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother.>

n.  a hummed expression that means “good night,” as in The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel by Steven Sherrill.


n.  a murmured sound with multiple meanings.

<Her permutating mmm’s served her in many ways, assuming a host of meanings.  This one was drawled out, playful and yet effective, and he felt it working on him, uncomfortably, while in addition it made him jealous, the sly implications of her softly laughing mmm.  —Rebecca Goldstein, Properties of Light.>

n.  a placeholder sound made to avoid an uncomfortable gap in conversation.

<“Mmm.”  When he didn’t say anything, the silence grew awkward.  —Karen Rose, Have You Seen Her?> <We filled the space between us with “mmms.”  —Julie Anne Peters, Keeping You a Secret.>

n.  a sound meaning “I don’t know”; see also mmmm nnnn.

<“They tell me you like mashed potatoes. ... But that you won’t eat potato chips.  Why is that, Jeffrey?”  “Mmm.”  —Barbara D’Amato, Death of a Thousand Cuts.>

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