How to Use gum in a Sentence

gum

1 of 2 noun
  • His gum is black and his eye is so red.
    — Katie Kitamura august 21, Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Sticky things like gum and tape get glued to the sides.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 19 Oct. 2025
  • They weren't allowed to have gum.
    — Julie Tremaine, PEOPLE, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Mild scurvy caused bleeding gums, tooth loss and foul-smelling breath.
    — Katherine Ott, The Conversation, 2 July 2026
  • The matte black frame and gum-wall tires hit me right in the kid-feels.
    — New Atlas, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Joke would have been better without the gum.
    — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Avoid allowing the gel strip to touch your gums.
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 25 Sep. 2025
  • After a week, her gums had fully healed.
    — Rachel Raposas, People.com, 17 Aug. 2025
  • The frenulum is the thin flap of skin that connects your lip to your gum.
    — Ryan Brennan, Charlotte Observer, 24 Feb. 2026
  • He has been fooled into selling them out for less than a pack of gum.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 24 May 2026
  • The frenulum is the thin flap of skin that connects the lip to the gum.
    — Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 24 Feb. 2026
  • That will require the lorises to gnaw on the wood to get the gum out of the tubes.
    — Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2023
  • Cream rears its head again for the tongue tag, while a black midsole holds a gum outsole.
    — Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Not brushing his teeth for a week isn’t going to cause gum disease.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2022
  • The homer literally dropped his jaw — his gum popped out of his mouth.
    — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2026
  • While trapped in her car, Tooter had only cough drops and gum to eat.
    — Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Please put wrappers in the garbage, or the consequence will be no more gum.
    — Renee Sagiv Riebling, Parents, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Please put wrappers in the garbage, or the consequence will be no more gum.
    — Renee Sagiv Riebling, Parents, 10 June 2026
  • The gum on the pants, however, was a head-scratcher.
    — Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 22 May 2026
  • Aytaç reemerged with a handful of gum—the good kind, with sugar.
    — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Think of it as the fun stuff by the check-out aisle in the grocery store, only with less gum.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 25 June 2026
  • Plush tannins coat the tongue and gums while spice notes linger into a lengthy finish.
    — Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 1 Apr. 2024
  • They were meant to wrap a large slab of Bazooka gum, but the test versions have no fold lines.
    — Michael Salfino, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • But as Hannah stood, a piece of gum flew from the crowd and hit her shoulder.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2023
  • These styles are also gentle and pliable against gums.
    — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Let your gums and teeth rest for at least 24 hours between sessions to be safe.
    — Claire Gillespie, Health, 18 Oct. 2023
  • Touch is a 5 gum wrapper with an authentic kiss print from one of the girls.
    — Mackenzie Schmidt, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Long after the last sip, soft closing notes of thyme and river rock linger on the tongue and gums.
    — Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 14 Dec. 2025
  • This should help reduce the amount of plaque buildup in your mouth and keep your teeth and gums healthier.
    — Sarah Bradley, Verywell Health, 23 Feb. 2023
  • View gallery - 3 images There could be new hope in the fight against gum disease.
    — New Atlas, 9 Jan. 2026

gum

2 of 2 verb
  • This allows the meat to go through the grinder easily and not gum up.
    — Joe McKendry, WSJ, 28 July 2022
  • The valves that are usually used to control the tank are gummed up.
    — Sean Emery, Oc Register, 23 May 2026
  • The valve deemed key to lowering the temperature of the tank is gummed up.
    — Andre Mouchard, Oc Register, 2 June 2026
  • Powerful forces seek to gum up the machinery, or to rob it of fuel, or to steal its parts.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Fuel lines and filters can also get all gummed up due to dirty fuel and may need to be replaced at the shop.
    — David Beaulieu, The Spruce, 1 Feb. 2026
  • The trade that has flowed so smoothly throughout the pandemic might finally gum up.
    — The Economist, 18 June 2020
  • Standard gasoline contains ethanol, which can gum up the motor and cause parts to rust if left in the machine all winter.
    — Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2021
  • For the most part, though, the defensive line didn’t have to hit Mahomes to gum everything up.
    — Joel A. Erickson, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2022
  • With such tight deadlines, a handful of senators could gum up the works and force a government shutdown.
    — Peter Weber, The Week, 14 Dec. 2022
  • That had helped gum up supply chains, but some of the major logistics problems have eased recently.
    — Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2022
  • That soon changed as the Panthers gummed up the middle of the floor, deflected entry passes and forced jump balls.
    — The Enquirer, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Thousands of mail-in ballots arrived on Election Day, gumming up the vote count.
    — David Smiley, Miami Herald, 10 Nov. 2025
  • The writers and actors strikes may be gumming up any dealmaking but the producers say there is talk of a follow-up.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Yet for some reason, gumming up the smooth functioning of the mitochondria compelled the worms to live longer.
    — Quanta Magazine, 8 Jan. 2024
  • Roy says his threat to gum up the movement of these bills was necessitated by the partisan actions of the Democrats.
    — Kerry Picket, Washington Examiner, 18 Mar. 2021
  • But Disney lawyers had another idea to gum up DeSantis’ plan.
    — Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2023
  • The fact that some liquid in the tank is reacting to become a solid is probably what happened to gum up the valve leading into the tank.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2026
  • Each can gum up different gears in the immune system’s intricate machinery.
    — Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Science | AAAS, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Talks on the biennial Nebraska budget have also been gummed up.
    — Ernesto Londoño, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Second, the Red Sox could streamline their roster and finally clear out the logjams that have gummed up the works for the past two years.
    — Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 31 May 2026
  • Striking plants have gummed up entire supply chains, causing thousands of layoffs in other factories.
    — Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2023
  • There are links in that process that, while making these kinds of vaccines potentially more flexible, could still gum up the works given all the involved players.
    — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2021
  • The uncertainty gummed up our ability to draw a family tree for these starchy vegetables and all their relatives.
    — Ari Daniel, NPR, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Polling stations have replacements available but Richer warned blue or black ballpoint pens can gum up the election machines used to process ballots.
    — Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Besides, the Senate, which has already been slow to confirm some appointees, is currently gummed up on other business.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 2 June 2026
  • The way the party’s pushback may play out at the Capitol for now is through Senators gumming up the Senate floor.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 11 Mar. 2026
  • Its seductive chords, its shocking sounds, somehow pierce one’s normal resistance, cutting through snow and ice and whatever else has gummed up one’s works.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2026
  • The Colts defensive line often appeared to gum things up at the line of scrimmage, only to have linebackers or safeties miss tackles in the hole or on the perimeter.
    — Joel A. Erickson, The Indianapolis Star, 12 Sep. 2021
  • That ties up beds in the hospital, gumming up the usual flow of patients from the emergency department into inpatient beds.
    — Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2023
  • But in some crowded places like coffee shops, concert venues or airports, lots of people connecting to the same WiFi network can gum up the works.
    — Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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