teem

1 of 2

verb (1)

ˈtēm

teemed; teeming; teems

Synonyms of teem next

intransitive verb

: to become filled to overflowing : abound

: to be present in large quantity

obsolete : to become pregnant : conceive

transitive verb

archaic : bring forth : give birth to : produce

teemingly

ˈtē-miŋ-lē

adverb

teemingness noun

teem

2 of 2

verb (2)

teemed; teeming; teems

transitive verb

: empty, pour

teem molten metal into a mold

Did you know?

Teem and team are not just homophones, they are also etymological kin. Teem comes from Old English tīman or tǣman, which originally meant "to bring forth offspring" or "to give birth to.” That word is related to the ancestor of team, the Old English noun tēam, meaning "offspring, lineage, or group of draft animals." Team can still be used to refer to a brood of young animals, especially pigs or ducks, but both teem and team have otherwise largely left their offspring-related senses behind.

Did you know?

What is the difference between the verbs teem and team?

If you want to describe an overflowing abundance of something, the word you are looking for is teem. We often see reference to "the teeming masses," "streets teeming with activity," or "forests teeming with life." You want the word team if you are trying to describe pairing two or more things in a coordinated ensemble ("she teamed the oxen together"), or forming some kind of partnership or association ("we are teaming with another organization this year").

Examples of teem in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

The place is teeming, practically spilling over, with unique finds. —

Palak Jayswal, The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 Sep. 2023 Music has charms that teem our tongues, course through our pens, and stream from our keyboards. —

Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2023 The very elements one viewer might love — the whimsy, the surfeit of design in every detail, the teeming casts, lashings of voiceover and intricate narratives — can be another viewer’s poison. —

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2023 Within that bath of lapis was a teeming second world. —

Carl Hoffman, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2023 Anyang today is a teeming city of 5.5 million people, where frenzied building projects are often put on hold when ancient artifacts are found. —

Roger Catlin, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 June 2023 Optimists point to the potential synergies between a vast but largely empty Russia, with a cornucopia of raw materials and immense tracts of unused agricultural land, and the teeming workshop of China next door, still in the throes of urbanization. —

Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Aug. 2023 Individual bees in a teeming colony have different personalities and some even get depressed. —

Steve Nicholls, Time, 2 Aug. 2023 This is the Aleppo of the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the 20th century, a teeming commercial entrepot and cross-cultural hub where Muslims, Christians and Jews fractiously but profitably coexisted. —

Sam Sacks, WSJ, 21 July 2023

Verb

Before the arrival of European explorers in the 1800s, the island’s steep headlands teemed with hundreds of thousands of raucous seabirds, including albatrosses, terns and petrels, whose guano oozed down bluffs to enrich waters brimming with fish. —

Tim Lydon, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Apr. 2023 The brain sends signals to the gut, which is teeming with nerve cells. —

Eleanor Morgan, refinery29.com, 12 Apr. 2023 On a game drive that afternoon, the reserve teems with wildlife. —

Flora Stubbs, Travel + Leisure, 12 Apr. 2023 Jerusalem's Old City, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has been teeming with visitors and religious pilgrims from around the world. —

Josef Federman, ajc, 9 Apr. 2023 The unrest comes at a delicate time for Jerusalem’s Old City, which on Friday was teeming with pilgrims from around the world. —

Isabel Debre, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Apr. 2023 In fact, Amazon is teeming with under-$30 deals in every category. —

Amy Schulman, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2023 The deep seabed is teeming with potato-sized rocks packed with the nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese EV manufacturers covet. —

Evan Halper, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'teem.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.