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The verb teem and the noun team are not just homophones, they are also etymological kin. Teem is derived from Old English tīman or tæman, which originally meant "to bring forth offspring" or "to become pregnant." 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.

What is the difference between the verbs teem and team?

Verb (1)

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 Individual servers can teem with tens, hundreds or thousands of people, making round-the-clock moderation a nauseatingly tall order. — Nathan Grayson, Washington Post, 16 June 2022 The streets, which used to teem with tourists and neighborhood folks, were empty, with a stillness that felt like being underwater. — Susan Orlean, The New Yorker, 18 May 2022 The deep waters here teem with out-of-this-world wildlife and coral formations. — Travel + Leisure, 12 May 2022 And television disinformation is only a small part of the problem; social media networks teem with falsehoods about the election and boost Trump's lies in what is almost a fact-free zone. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 16 Dec. 2021 The task is especially hard in the Northern Virginia suburbs around Washington, DC, which teem with federal workers and highly educated and affluent voters. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 11 Oct. 2021 Much has changed since that time — Cartagena is now home to more than a dozen upscale hotels — but the public plazas still teem with high drama, a strange and vibrant life. — Travel + Leisure, 10 Oct. 2021 Eden: Untamed Planet Helena Bonham Carter narrates this new nature series, which visits the few remaining untouched lands that still teem with ample biodiversity. — Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2021 Olympic sites teem with volunteers — easily identified by their blue-and-white uniforms—rushing to assist any confused visitor. — Rachel Blount, Star Tribune, 23 July 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The deep waters here teem with out-of-this-world wildlife and coral formations. — Travel + Leisure, 12 May 2022 And television disinformation is only a small part of the problem; social media networks teem with falsehoods about the election and boost Trump's lies in what is almost a fact-free zone. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 16 Dec. 2021 The task is especially hard in the Northern Virginia suburbs around Washington, DC, which teem with federal workers and highly educated and affluent voters. — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 11 Oct. 2021 Much has changed since that time — Cartagena is now home to more than a dozen upscale hotels — but the public plazas still teem with high drama, a strange and vibrant life. — Travel + Leisure, 10 Oct. 2021 Eden: Untamed Planet Helena Bonham Carter narrates this new nature series, which visits the few remaining untouched lands that still teem with ample biodiversity. — Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2021 Olympic sites teem with volunteers — easily identified by their blue-and-white uniforms—rushing to assist any confused visitor. — Rachel Blount, Star Tribune, 23 July 2021 Our Milky Way Galaxy should teem with 300 billion exoplanets, the researchers estimate. — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, 26 Mar. 2021 Khan’s words might teem with optimism, but the Jaguars are still going to lose — more often, perhaps, than Meyer, whose worst season as a college head coach was 8-5, ever has. — New York Times, 26 Apr. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'teem.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.