seem

verb

ˈsēm 

seemed; seeming; seems

intransitive verb

1

: to appear to the observation or understanding

2

: to give the impression of being

Synonyms

• act
• appear
• come across (as)
• come off (as)
• feel
• look
• make
• sound

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 bulk of any 'savings' seems to come from cutting approximately 300,000 W-2 government employees. —Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Mar. 2025

So people don’t ever seem too amped up around here. —Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025

Although star men’s basketball players such as Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving have gone down to such injuries as well, the overall percentage doesn’t seem quite as high. —Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025

Interestingly, the best learning companies and organizations seem to separate these two concepts – perhaps not always overtly -- and do not let shame become the overwhelming feeling when someone fails. —Kwame Christian, Forbes, 26 Mar. 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