Adjacent Words

Seem definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SEEM, v. i.
1. To appear; to make or have a show or semblance.
Thou art not what thou seems't. Shak.
All seem'd well pleased; all seem'd, but were not all. Milton.
2. To have the appearance of truth or fact; to be understood as true. It seems that the Turkish power is on the decline.
A prince of Italy, it seems, entertained his mistress on a great lake. Addison.
SEEM, v. t. To become; to befit. Obs.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect; "She seems to be sleeping"; "This appears to be a very difficult problem"; "This project looks fishy"; "They appeared like people who had not eaten or slept for a long time" [syn: look, appear, seem]
2: seem to be true, probable, or apparent; "It seems that he is very gifted"; "It appears that the weather in California is very bad" [syn: appear, seem]
3: appear to exist; "There seems no reason to go ahead with the project now"
4: appear to one's own mind or opinion; "I seem to be misunderstood by everyone"; "I can't seem to learn these Chinese characters"

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb Etymology: Middle English semen to appear to be, be fitting, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse sœma to honor, sœmr fitting, samr same — more at same Date: 13th century 1. to appear to the observation or understanding 2. to give the impression of being

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. 1 give the impression or sensation of being (seems ridiculous; seems certain to win). 2 (foll. by to + infin.) appear or be perceived or ascertained (he seems to be breathing; they seem to have left). Phrases and idioms: can't seem to colloq. seem unable to. do not seem to colloq. somehow do not (I do not seem to like him). it seems (or would seem) (often foll. by that + clause) it appears to be true or the fact (in a hesitant, guarded, or ironical statement). Etymology: ME f. ON soema honour f. soemr fitting

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Seem Seem, v. t. To befit; to beseem. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Seem Seem, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Seemed; p. pr. & vb. n. Seeming.] [OE. semen to seem, to become, befit, AS. s?man to satisfy, pacify; akin to Icel. s?ma to honor, to bear with, conform to, s?mr becoming, fit, s?ma to beseem, to befit, sama to beseem, semja to arrange, settle, put right, Goth. samjan to please, and to E. same. The sense is probably due to the adj. seemly. [root]191. See Same, a., and cf. Seemly.] To appear, or to appear to be; to have a show or semblance; to present an appearance; to look; to strike one's apprehension or fancy as being; to be taken as. ``It now seemed probable.'' --Macaulay. Thou picture of what thou seem'st. --Shak. All seemed well pleased; all seemed, but were not all. --Milton. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death. --Prov. xiv. 12. It seems, it appears; it is understood as true; it is said. A prince of Italy, it seems, entertained his misstress on a great lake. --Addison. Syn: To appear; look. Usage: Seem, Appear. To appear has reference to a thing's being presented to our view; as, the sun appears; to seem is connected with the idea of semblance, and usually implies an inference of our mind as to the probability of a thing's being so; as, a storm seems to be coming. ``The story appears to be true,'' means that the facts, as presented, go to show its truth; ``the story seems to be true,'' means that it has the semblance of being so, and we infer that it is true. ``His first and principal care being to appear unto his people such as he would have them be, and to be such as he appeared.'' --Sir P. Sidney. Ham. Ay, madam, it is common. Queen. If it be, Why seems it so particular with thee? Ham. Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not ``seems.'' --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(seems, seeming, seemed) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use seem to say that someone or something gives the impression of having a particular quality, or of happening in the way you describe. We heard a series of explosions. They seemed quite close by... Everyone seems busy except us... To everyone who knew them, they seemed an ideal couple... £50 seems a lot to pay... The calming effect seemed to last for about ten minutes... It was a record that seemed beyond reach... The proposal seems designed to break opposition to the government's economic programme... It seems that the attack this morning was very carefully planned to cause few casualties... It seems clear that he has no reasonable alternative... It seemed as if she'd been gone forever... There seems to be a lot of support in Congress for this move... There seems no possibility that such action can be averted... This phenomenon is not as outrageous as it seems. V-LINK: no cont, V adj, V adj, V n, V n, V to-inf, V prep, V -ed, it V that, it V adj that, it V as if, there V to-inf, there V n, V 2. You use seem when you are describing your own feelings or thoughts, or describing something that has happened to you, in order to make your statement less forceful. I seem to have lost all my self-confidence... I seem to remember giving you very precise instructions... Excuse me I seem to be a little bit lost. V-LINK: no cont, V to-inf, V to-inf, V to-inf [vagueness] 3. If you say that you cannot seem or could not seem to do something, you mean that you have tried to do it and were unable to. No matter how hard I try I cannot seem to catch up on all the bills... PHRASE: PHR to-inf 4. see also seeming

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Appear, look, appear to be, present the appearance, have the appearance, strike one as being. 2. Appear, be seen. 3. Assume, pretend.

Moby Thesaurus

ape, appear, appear like, approach, approximate, be like, be redolent of, bear resemblance, bring to mind, call to mind, call up, come close, come near, compare with, copy, correspond, counterfeit, evoke, favor, feel, follow, hint, imitate, imply, insinuate, intimate, look, look like, match, mimic, mirror, near, nearly reproduce, not tell apart, parallel, partake of, remind one of, resemble, savor of, seem like, seem to be, simulate, smack of, sound, sound like, stack up with, suggest, take after