seem

verb

ˈsēm 

seemed; seeming; seems

intransitive verb

1

: to appear to the observation or understanding

2

: to give the impression of being

Synonyms

• look
• feel
• sound
• appear

Examples of seem in a Sentence

What they're doing doesn't seem right to me.

I tried to cheer them up because they seemed depressed.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Kansas City Current seems unstoppable at the moment. —Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 7 Sep. 2025

At the 2015 ceremony, the two seemed to temporarily bury the hatchet when Swift presented West with the 2015 Video Vanguard Award. —Kate Hogan, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025

Others, like pain points and thought leaders, seem like things that AI got from business buzzword dictionaries. —John Werner, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025

Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania have made deals with the Administration to restore their funding, and other universities have conformed to what the Administration seems to want in order to avoid becoming targets themselves. —Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025

Word History

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

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for seem

• beam
• bream
• cream
• creme
• deem
• dream
• gleam
• meme
• ream
• scheme
• scream
• seam

Kids Definition

seem

verb

ˈsēm 

1

: to give the impression of being : appear

the request seems reasonable

2

a

: to appear to a person's own mind or opinion

can't seem to solve the problem

b

: to appear to be

there seems no reason for worry