seem
/ˈsiːm/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈsɪjm/
seem verb: to appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.
Verb
seem (third-person singular simple present seems, present participle seeming, simple past and past participle seemed)
- To appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.
- She is seeming a bit down these days. Her eyes seem blue. It must have seemed to her she was safe. How'd she seem to you? He seems not to be at home. "It seems like rain". "It seems to me (to be) rather sleety."; "There seem to be a few problems."
- It seems a pity, but I can't see you this weekend.
- To befit; to beseem.
- And all within were pathes and alleies wide,
With footing worne, and leading inward farre:
Faire harbour that them seemes; so in they entred arre.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
- And all within were pathes and alleies wide,
seem meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
seem in Hindi
- to appear
- लगना lagnā, दिखना dikhnā
seem in Tamil
- கருது, அறி, தோன்று, போல, இரு
seem in Marathi
- to seem, appear
- भासणे bhāsṇe, दिसणे disṇe, वाटणे vāṭṇe
seem in Urdu
- to appear
- لگنا lagnā, دکھایا dikhānā
More languagesFewer languages
- seem in Bengali
- দেখান, প্রতিভাত হওয়া, মনে হওয়া, প্রতীয়মান হওয়া
- seem in Telugu
- అనిపించు anipiñcu
- seem in Malayalam
- തോന്നുക tōnnuka
- seem in Kannada
- ಅನಿಸು anisu
- seem in Gujarati
- ભાસવું bhāsvũ
- seem in Odia
- ମାଡ଼ିବା māṛibā
- seem in Sanskrit
- छन्द् chand, चक्षते cákṣate, प्रतिभा pratibhā, प्रतिभाति pratibhāti
- seem in Arabic
- بَدَا badā, ظَهَرَ ẓahara
- seem in Persian
- به نظر رسیدن be nazar residan, به نظر آمدن be nazar âmadan
- seem in Thai
- ดูเหมือน doo mĕuan
- seem in Vietnamese
- có vẻ, hình như, dường như
Examples of seem in a sentence
- Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly.1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
- Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable.2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in AV...
Forms of seem
| third-person singular present | seems |
|---|---|
| present participle | seeming |
| past participle | seemed |
| past | seemed |
| alternative form (obsolete) | seme |
Origin of seem
From Middle English semen (“to seem, befit, be becoming”), from Old Norse sœma (“to conform to, beseem, befit”), from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną (“to unite, fit”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; whole”). Cognate with Scots seme (“to be fitting; beseem”), Danish sømme (“to beseem”), Old Swedish søma, Faroese søma (“to be proper”). Related also to Old Norse sómi (“honour”) ( > archaic Danish somme (“decent comportment”)), Old Norse sœmr (“fitting, seemly”), Old English sēman (“to reconcile, bring an agreement”), Old English sōm (“agreement”).
Words formed from seem
Phrases with seem
Words that rhyme with seem
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- upstream
- deem
- dream
- scream
- team
- academe
- bream
- downstream
- esteem
- forebeam
- supreme
- teem
- A team
- ice cream
- under one's own steam
- abeam
- addeem
- astream
- beseem
- centime
- decime
- deme
- fleam
- inseam
- Karim
- preem
- rheme
- agleam
- breme
- buffer beam
- distream
- foredream
- haem
- heme
- Kareem
- kilim
- leam
- leme
- let off steam
- meem
- misesteem
- misseem
- neem
- on stream
- prime
- redream
- reem
- reim
Questions about seem
- What does seem mean?
- Seem means to appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.
- What is seem in Hindi?
- Seem in Hindi is लगना (lagnā), दिखना (dikhnā). See Seem meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use seem in a sentence?
- Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly.
- What part of speech is seem?
- Seem is a verb.
- How do you pronounce seem?
- Seem is pronounced /ˈsiːm/.
- What is the past tense of seem?
- The past tense of seem is seemed.
Words near seem in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: seem (page history and authors); seem (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); दिसणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); seem (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); തോന്നുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಅನಿಸು (Kannada) (page history and authors); ભાસવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ମାଡ଼ିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); चक्षते (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-seem.ogg.
Cite this entry: “seem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.