Word.ws English Dictionary

seal

/siːl/

seal noun: a pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal.

seal: a pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

seal (plural seals)

  1. A pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal.
    • The seals in the harbor looked better than they smelled.
    Synonyms:
    sea puppy, pinniped

Verb (1)

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

  1. (intransitive) To hunt seals.
    • They're organizing a protest against sealing.

Noun (2)

seal (plural seals)

  1. A stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance such as wax.
    • She [Nature] carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby
      Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 11”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
  2. An impression of such stamp on wax, paper or other material used for sealing.
  3. A facsimile of an impression of such stamp that is a mark or symbol of an office or organisation.
    • The front of the podium bore the presidential seal.
    • So the matter rested until the Cranbrook & Paddock Wood Company was incorporated on August 8, 1877, appropriately displaying a bunch of hops on its seal, for these had become the principal cash crop in the area.1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170
  4. Anything that secures or authenticates.
  5. Something which will be visibly damaged if a covering or container is opened, and which may or may not bear an official design.
    • The result was declared invalid, as the seal on the meter had been broken.
    • Seals were placed on the papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace and on the apartment on the second floor of the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis lived.2025 April 21, Devin Watkins, “Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday aged 88”, in Vatican News
  6. (figuratively) Confirmation or approval, or an indication of this.
    • Her clothes always had her mom's seal of approval.
  7. Something designed to prevent liquids or gases from leaking through a joint.
    • The canister is leaking. I think the main seal needs to be replaced.
  8. A tight closure, secure against leakage.
    • Close the lid tightly to get a good seal.
  9. A chakra.

Verb (2)

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

  1. (transitive) To place a seal on (a document).
  2. To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality.
    • to seal weights and measures
    • to seal silverware
  3. (transitive) To fasten (something) so that it cannot be opened without visible damage.
    • The cover is sealed. If anyone tries to open it, we'll know about it.
  4. (transitive) To prevent people or vehicles from crossing (something).
    • The border has been sealed until the fugitives are found.
  5. (transitive) To close securely to prevent leakage.
    • I've sealed the bottle to keep the contents fresh.
    • Seal up your lips, and give no words but "mum".1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  6. (transitive) To place in a sealed container.
    • I've sealed the documents in this envelope.
    Synonyms:
    enclose
  7. (transitive) To place a notation of one's next move in a sealed envelope to be opened after an adjournment.
    • After thinking for half an hour, the champion sealed his move.
  8. (transitive) To guarantee.
    • The last-minute goal sealed United’s win.
    • seal one's destiny
  9. To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement or plaster, etc.
    • Sealed to this wall by their rims were cazuelas ( earthenware bowls).1898, The American Archaeologist, page 267
    • After testing is concluded and it has been determined that the drilled well is to be completed as a producing or fluid-injection well, or that operations are to be suspended, the final string of casing is placed in the well and sealed to the penetrated formation with cement.1971, Environmental Conservation, the Oil and Gas Industries, page 127
  10. To close by means of a seal.
    • to seal a drainpipe with water
    • When the silicone rubber has set the plaster pieces are replaced, followed by the lid, which is sealed to the mother-mould with plaster and bandage as previously described.2008, Sandra Davison, R.G. Newton, Conservation and Restoration of Glass, page 301
  11. (Mormonism) To bind eternally as family members.
    • If a man once married desires a second helpmate […] she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church.1852, Howard Stansbury, An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah
    • She can be sealed to this other man and still remain with her first husband; and the Mormons believe that all her children will belong to the man to whom she is sealed.1870, Aaron Harrison Cragin, Execution of Laws in Utah, page 9
  12. To form a sacred commitment.
    • What was that office, or work, to which his Father sealed him? I answer, more generally, he was sealed to the whole work of mediation for us, thereby to recover and save all the elect, whom the Father had given him:1836, John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened; Or, A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory. 1671, page 44
    • Perfectly so, I tell thee, of the sealed people who have come in through unbelief, pretending themselves to be children of the kingdom, that they are sealed to be heirs of the promise, but have come in as thieves and robbers.1861, Joanna Southcott, Lavinia Elizabeth C. Jones, The scriptures of the holy Trinity, page 88
  13. (transitive) To fry (meat) at a high temperature to retain the juices.
    • Seal the meat and continue frying until nicely browned.1993, Daran Little, Life and Times at the Rovers Return, page 113

Verb (3)

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

  1. (dialectal) To tie up animals (especially cattle) in their stalls.

Proper noun capitalized: Seal

Seal (plural Seals)

  1. A surname.
  2. A village in Sevenoaks district, Kent, England.

Noun (3) capitalized: SEAL

SEAL (plural SEALs)

  1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Navy SEAL (“member of the Sea, Air, Land unit”).
    • Enough people connected to the SEALs and the bin Laden mission have confirmed for me that the Shooter was the "number two" behind the raid's point man going up the stairs to bin Laden's third-floor residence […] The point man is the only one besides the Shooter who could verify the kill shots...2013 February 11, Phil Bronstein, “The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden… Is Screwed”, in Esquire Magazine, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2017

seal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

seal in Hindi

pinniped
सील sīl
stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance
मोहर mohar, मुद्रा mudrā, छाप chāp, छापा chāpā

seal in Tamil

சீல், முத்திரையிடுவதற்கு

seal in Marathi

सील करण्यासाठी

seal in Urdu

stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance
مُہَر muhar
More languagesFewer languages
seal in Bengali
সীলমোহর, সিলমোহর, সিল করা
seal in Telugu
సీల్, సీల్ చేయండి
seal in Malayalam
മുദ്ര, സീൽ, സീൽ ചെയ്യുക
seal in Kannada
ಮುದ್ರೆ, ಸೀಲ್, ಸೀಲ್ ಮಾಡಿ
seal in Punjabi
ਸੀਲ sīl
seal in Gujarati
સીલ કરો, સીલ, સીલ કરવા માટે
seal in Odia
ସିଲ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, ସିଲ, ସିଲ୍ କରିବା
seal in Nepali
सिल गर्नुहोस्, मोहर लगाउनुहोस्, सिल गर्ने
seal in Pashto
مهر mohr
seal in Tagalog
karnerong-dagat, poka, tatakan
seal in Arabic
فُقْمَة fuqma, خَتْم ḵatm
seal in Malay
anjing laut, cap
seal in Indonesian
anjing laut, segel, lambang, tutup
seal in Persian
فک fok
seal in Thai
แมวน้ำ mɛɛo-náam, ลัญจกร lan-jà-gɔɔn
seal in Vietnamese
hải cẩu, con dấu, ấn, triện
seal in Myanmar
ရေသူ resu, တံဆိပ်တုံး tamhciptum:

Examples of seal in a sentence

  • seal a job or a contract
  • England's first-half display contained much to admire but it was a sign of their wastefulness in front of goal that it took the injury-time intervention from Kane to seal victory.2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2019:
  • The PVC was then sealed to the plastered foundation with a 3-inch-wide band of PVC-to-concrete adhesive applied above the Thiokol.1974, Ruins Stabilization in the Southwestern United States, page 40:
  • The blowing device consists of a glass vessel with a hollow perforated cylinder sealed to its base, and two side tubes sealed at opposite ends of the vessel.1974, Egyptian Journal of Physics - Volumes 5-6, page 2:
  • Next, I was sealed to my fourteenth wife, Emeline Vaughn.2001, Richard W. Slatta, The Mythical West, page 197:

All 40 example sentences with seal

Synonyms of seal

All synonyms of seal

Forms of seal

Noun
pluralseals
pluralSEALs
Verb
third-person singular presentseals
present participlesealing
past participlesealed
pastsealed
Proper noun
pluralSeals

Past tense of seal: sealed

Plural of seal: seals

Origin of seal

From Middle English sel, from an inflectional form of Old English seolh, from Proto-West Germanic *selh, from Proto-Germanic *selhaz (compare Scots selch,selkie, North Frisian selich, Middle Dutch seel, zēle, Old High German selah, Danish sæl, Middle Low German sale, Icelandic selur), either from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to pull”) (compare dialectal English sullow (“plough”)) or from early Proto-Finnic *šülkeš (later *hülgeh, compare dialectal Finnish hylki, standard hylje, Estonian hüljes).

Inherited from Middle English sel, sele, from Anglo-Norman seel, from Latin sigillum, a diminutive of signum (“sign”). Doublet of sigil and sigillum.

From Middle English *selen (suggested by Middle English sele (“harness; hame”)), perhaps from Old English sǣlan (“to bind”).

Words formed from seal

Phrases with seal

75 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with seal

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about seal

What does seal mean?
Seal means a pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal.
What is seal in Hindi?
Seal in Hindi is सील (sīl), मोहर (mohar), मुद्रा (mudrā). See Seal meaning in Hindi.
How do you use seal in a sentence?
seal a job or a contract
What part of speech is seal?
Seal can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce seal?
Seal is pronounced /siːl/.
What is the plural of seal?
The plural of seal is seals.

Words near seal in the dictionary

  1. seak
  2. seakale
  3. seakeeping
  4. seakindliness
  5. seakindly
  6. seal
  7. Seal Beach
  8. seal bomb
  9. seal bombs
  10. seal calf
  11. seal calves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: seal (page history and authors); Seal (page history and authors); SEAL (page history and authors); seal (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); seal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-seal.ogg.

Cite this entry: “seal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.