seeming
/ˈsiːmɪŋ/
seeming is the present participle and gerund of seem.
Noun
seeming (countable and uncountable, plural seemings)
- Outward appearance.
- My loue is strengthned though more weake in seeming
I loue not lesse, thogh lesse the show appeare,1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 102”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC - And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC
- My loue is strengthned though more weake in seeming
- Apprehension; judgement.
- Nothing more cleare vnto their seeming, then that a new Jerusalem being often spoken of in Scripture, they vndoubtedly were themselues that newe Ierusalem,1604, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie, London: Preface, page 39
- […] in her ears the sound
Yet rung of his perswasive words, impregn’d
With Reason, to her seeming, and with Truth;1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
Meaning of seem
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."
- 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,
Adjective
seeming (comparative more seeming, superlative most seeming)
- Appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, and often opposed to, real or actual).
- seeming friendship
- O, good my lord, you have lost a friend / And I dare swear you borrow not that face / Of seeming sorrow—it is sure your own.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
- Synonyms:
- apparent, ostensible
Synonyms of seeming
Forms of seeming
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more seeming |
| superlative | most seeming |
| Noun | |
| plural | seemings |
Origin of seeming
By surface analysis, seem + -ing.
Words formed from seeming
Words that rhyme with seeming
Questions about seeming
- What does seeming mean?
- Seeming means appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, and often opposed to, real or actual).
- What is seeming the present participle and gerund of?
- Seeming is the present participle and gerund of seem.
- What part of speech is seeming?
- Seeming can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce seeming?
- Seeming is pronounced /ˈsiːmɪŋ/.
Words near seeming in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: seeming (page history and authors); seem (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-seeming.wav.
Cite this entry: “seeming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seeming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.