Word.ws English Dictionary

simmer

/ˈsɪmə//ˈsɪmɚ/

simmer verb: to cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.

Verb

simmer (third-person singular simple present simmers, present participle simmering, simple past and past participle simmered)

  1. (intransitive) To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
    • The soup simmered on the stove.
    • The locomotive was the now inevitable American 2-8-0, No. 2623. There she stood, effectively blocking the level crossing, simmering gently, massively inert. It was almost dark, and one's final sight was of her high, firelit cab, the enginemen nonchalantly leaning out, waiting for the right-away...1945 January and February, “Notes and News: American Locomotives in France”, in Railway Magazine, page 46
  2. (transitive) To cause to cook or to cause to undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
    • Simmer the soup for five minutes, then serve.
    • There are other easy ways you can bake and simmer and sauté wild game without qualifying as a gourmet cook.1981, Phyllis Hobson, Easy Game Cookery, Storey Publishing, →ISBN, page 2
    Synonyms:
    coddle
  3. (figuratively, intransitive) To be on the point of breaking out into anger; to be agitated.
    • Maybe that really did happen, and Robin's anger at his wife had simmered for this long?2006, Earl Ganz, The Taos Truth Game, UNM Press, →ISBN
  4. (figuratively, intransitive) To remain angry with someone or something past the point of exhaustion; to resign oneself to holding a grudge, especially after some failed attempts to resolve a situation.
    • I tried to get through to him; all that's left for me to do is simmer.
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) To develop gradually, of an idea or plan.
    • The idea for The Sims was one that had been simmering in Wright's mind for quite some time, and was initially conceived as an architecture simulation.2003, Mark H. Walker, Games That Sell!, Wordware Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 162
    Synonyms:
    gestate, ferment

Noun (1)

simmer

  1. The state or process of simmering.
    • The kettle was kept on the simmer.

Noun (2)

simmer (plural simmers)

  1. (informal) Someone who plays a sim (a simulation game), particularly The Sims.

Noun (3) capitalized: Simmer

Simmer (plural Simmers)

  1. (slang) A fan of the video game series The Sims.

Proper noun capitalized: Simmer

Simmer (plural Simmers)

  1. A surname from German.

simmer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

simmer in Hindi

to simmer
गुनगुनाना gungunānā

simmer in Tamil

மென்மையாக கொதிக்கவை, மனதில் கொதிப்பு உண்டாக்கு

simmer in Urdu

ہلکے ہلکے ابلنا, سنسنانا

simmer in Malayalam

പതയ്ക്കുക, നിയന്ത്രണാധീനമായ കോപത്താൽ നിറഞ്ഞ, ഉളളിൽ പതഞ്ഞുപൊങ്ങുന്ന കോപം, പതുക്കെ പോവുക, തിളയ്ക്കാറാവുക
More languagesFewer languages
simmer in Kannada
ಕುದಿ, ಮರಳು, ತಳ ಮಳಿಸು, ಸಿಟ್ಟಿನಿಂದ ಕುದಿ

Examples of simmer in a sentence

  • There she stood, effectively blocking the level crossing, simmering gently, massively inert.1945 January and February, “Notes and News: American Locomotives in France”, in Railway Magazine, page 46:
  • That way, the heat can circulate under the meat and prevent it from simmering in its juices.2004, Susan Westmoreland, The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, Hearst Books, →ISBN, page 89:

All 40 example sentences with simmer

Synonyms of simmer

Forms of simmer

Verb
third-person singular presentsimmers
present participlesimmering
past participlesimmered
pastsimmered
alternative formsimber
Noun
pluralsimmers
pluralSimmers
Proper noun
pluralSimmers

Past tense of simmer: simmered

Origin of simmer

From alteration of dialectal simper, from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), of possibly imitative origin. First attested in the intransitive sense. The noun is from the verb. First attested in the late 15ᵗʰ century.

From sim (“simulation”, noun) + -er.

From Sim + -er.

Words formed from simmer

Words that rhyme with simmer

Questions about simmer

What does simmer mean?
Simmer means to cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
What is simmer in Hindi?
Simmer in Hindi is गुनगुनाना (gungunānā). See Simmer meaning in Hindi.
How do you use simmer in a sentence?
There she stood, effectively blocking the level crossing, simmering gently, massively inert.
What part of speech is simmer?
Simmer can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce simmer?
Simmer is pronounced /ˈsɪmə/ (UK).
What is the past tense of simmer?
The past tense of simmer is simmered.

Words near simmer in the dictionary

  1. Simmentaler
  2. Simmentalers
  3. Simmentals
  4. Simmenthaler
  5. Simmenthalers
  6. simmer
  7. simmer down
  8. simmer up
  9. simmered
  10. simmered down
  11. simmered up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: simmer (page history and authors); Simmer (page history and authors); गुनगुनाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); simmer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simmer (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simmer (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); simmer (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-simmer.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Simmer.wav.

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