oom

O1O1M3
General South African/ʊəm/UK/ʊm/

noun

An older man, especially an uncle. (Frequently as a respectful form of address.)

“If you write infinitely recursive code, you might generate an OOM error.”

Less commonFirst used 19th c.Scrabble 5

Meanings

oom1

nounoom (plural ooms)

plural ooms

  1. South AfricaAn older man, especially an uncle. (Frequently as a respectful form of address.)First known use 19th c.

    He raised his glass. ‘Here's to you, Oom Ben,’ he said. ‘Give them hell.’

    1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage, published 1998, page 73

OOM2

phrase
  1. abbreviationinitialismcomputingInitialism of out of memory.

    If you write infinitely recursive code, you might generate an OOM error.

  2. abbreviationinitialismvideo gamesInitialism of out of mana.
nounOOM (plural OOMs)

plural OOMs

  1. An instance of an out of memory error.
  2. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of order of magnitude.

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

oom · noun

  1. Afrikaansoom
  2. Englishoom

Borrowed from Afrikaans oom. Doublet of eam and ohm.

Full word history & related roots →

OOM · phrase, noun

By initialism or acronymy.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with oom

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

oom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oom

MLA

“oom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oom. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oom,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oom.

Source: oom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.