US /əˈhɛm/
verb noun Freq #4731

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    To cough or clear one's throat so as to draw attention.

    He wouldn't have been suspected of crying for the world, but he coughed and ahemmed, and finally turned away without speaking.

  2. 2
    noun

    the utterance of a sound similar to clearing the throat

Thesaurus

Synonyms
2 noun · the utterance of a sound... hem

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Topics

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