seem

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seem

/ˈsiːm/
[ˈsɪi̯m]
/ˈsɪjm/ British, Southern, Standard

Sounds like seam, seme · Rhymes with -iːm

Where it comes from

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”).

verb seems · seeming · seemed · seme

copulative 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."
obsolete 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.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: appear, look, appearance, consider, suggest, think, believe, resemble, show, prove, operate, guess, tend, sound, find, feel

Translations

Every language

verb to appear

Español	parecer
한국어	보이다 boida, ~인 것 같다
日本語	...らしい ...rashii, ...そう ...-sō, ...ように見える ...yō-ni mieru
中文	好像 hǎoxiàng, 顯得 /显得 xiǎnde, 看上去 kàn shàngqù, 看起來 /看起来 kànqilai, 看樣子 /看样子 kànyàngzi
हिन्दी	लगना lagnā, दिखना dikhnā
Português	parecer
Français	sembler, paraître, avoir l'air
Deutsch	scheinen, dünken, vorkommen
Italiano	sembrare, parere, apparire
Ελληνικά	φαίνομαι faínomai
Română	părea
Русский	каза́ться kazátʹsja, показа́ться pokazátʹsja, сдава́ться sdavátʹsja
Tiếng Việt	có vẻ, hình như, dường như
العربية	بَدَا badā, ظَهَرَ ẓahara
עברית	נראה nir'á

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MLA

"seem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/seem. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

seem. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/seem

Chicago

"seem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/seem.

BibTeX

@misc{seem_2026,
  title = {seem},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/seem},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}