PM
- 1Alternative form of p.m. (“after noon”).
Their flight departs at 4 PM from the south terminal.
We agreed to meet at 8 PM outside the theater.
Note
Clock-time shorthand in capitals, alternating with the lowercase, punctuated p.m. Spacing varies: 8:25 PM sets it apart from the number, while 9AM to 5PM runs it on. Either way it follows the time. Edited prose tends to prefer p.m., while the capitals are common in informal and digital writing.
- 2Initialism of prime minister.
The PM announced new policies during the morning briefing.
Reporters gathered outside as the PM left the building.
Note
A head-of-government title used almost like a name. It usually takes the, as in the PM said or the PM's office, and readers supply the country from context. The office belongs to parliamentary systems, where its holder is often the leader of the majority party.
- 3Initialism of private message.
He answered my question in a PM rather than the public thread.
Several users complained that their PM history had vanished after the update.
Note
The online sense, and the one behind the verb "to PM someone". A PM travels through a private channel rather than a public thread or chatroom, so it suits addresses, prices and complaints. The noun takes the plural PMs. The verb keeps its capitals and adds lowercase endings: PMs, PMed, PMing.
- 4To send a private message to someone, typically through an online platform or app.
Could you PM me the address when you get a chance?
He PMed the organizers to ask about leftover tickets.
SimilarDM
Note
A chat verb that keeps its capitals while taking ordinary endings: PM me, she PMs, he PMed, PMing. It is transitive, so the person messaged follows directly, with no to. DM is its close synonym. The spelling is shared with the project-managing verb, and only the object, a person or a project, tells them apart.
- 5Initialism of post mortem.
The coroner's PM confirmed the cause of death as drowning.
Results from the PM were sent to the family's lawyer.
Note
This is the pathologist's shorthand, and an old one. Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye (1953) has a detective waiting on a 'P.M. report', with periods. The Latin phrase behind it means 'after death', and post mortem itself also stretches to any review held after something has gone wrong. Context keeps it apart from the clock-time "PM", which shares the letters.
- 6Initialism of particulate matter, written with a subscript number giving the size of the particles in micrometers.
Air-quality monitors recorded high PM levels during the wildfire season.
Fine PM can travel deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
Note
In air-quality science the number matters as much as the letters. PM2.5 covers particles up to 2.5 micrometers and PM10 those up to 10, so the smaller figure means finer particles. In ordinary print the subscript often flattens: The New York Times wrote PM 10 and PM 2.5 in 2019, reporting the rise in deaths for each increase in concentration.
- 7Initialism of project manager.
The PM divided the project into weekly milestones for the team.
As PM, she escalated the delay to senior management.
Note
One of four job titles crowded into these letters: project, program, product and portfolio manager all shorten to PM. Each is countable and often stands bare after as (as PM, she…). When more than one could be meant in the same office, spelling the title out is the safe choice. The role also has a verb of its own: to PM a project is to manage it.
- 8Initialism of product manager.
The PM shaped the product roadmap around customer feedback.
As PM, he prioritized features for the next release.
- 9Initialism of project management.
Strong PM kept the construction on schedule despite supply delays.
The course covered the basics of PM, from planning to closeout.
Note
The discipline rather than the person: keeping a project within its scope, quality, time and cost. As a mass noun it takes no article, as in good PM or a course in PM. The job title is countable: a PM, two PMs. That article is often the only clue to which is meant.
- 10Initialism of program manager.
The PM aligned three project teams toward a single release date.
As PM, she reported on the whole program's progress each quarter.
- 11Initialism of portfolio manager.
Each PM reports monthly returns to the investment committee.
The bank promoted a senior analyst to PM last spring.
- 12To plan, coordinate, and oversee a project through to completion.
He was asked to PM the office relocation next quarter.
They need someone experienced to PM the entire product rollout.
Similarmanage, coordinate, oversee, run, lead
- 13The chemical symbol for the element promethium.
In the lanthanide row, Pm sits between neodymium and samarium.
Some older luminous watch dials used Pm-147 to make their paint glow.
Note
Of the many meanings these two letters carry, the element is the one written with a capital P, a small m and never a period. The same letters can stand for a prime minister, a private message or the time after noon, and in lower case for the picometer. Aloud the symbol is read as promethium, and an isotope adds its mass number after a hyphen, as in Pm-147.
- 14Symbol for picometre, an SI unit of length equal to 10⁻¹² meters.
The carbon–carbon bond in ethane is roughly 154 pm long.
Atomic radii in the table are listed in pm rather than in angstroms.
Note
Like every SI symbol, it follows the number after a space and never takes a plural s: 154 pm, not 154 pms. A trillionth of a meter is the scale of atoms themselves, so chemists and physicists reach for it when giving bond lengths and atomic radii, the distances between and across individual atoms.
- 15Initialism of perfect match.
- 16Initialism of price match.
- 17Initialism of performance management.
- 18Initialism of permanent magnet.
- 19Initialism of precious metal.
- 20Initialism of postmaster.
- 21Initialism of push money.
- 22Initialism of partially meet.
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