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seem

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verb [intransitive] [never progressive] American English pronunciation: seem /sim/ 
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theyseem
he/she/itseems
present participleseeming
past tenseseemed
past participleseemed
  1. 1
    to appear to be something, or to appear to have a particular quality

    John seems nice.

    seem (to be) someone/something:

    Susan seems like a very sensible person.

    seem happy/genuine/relaxed etc. to someone:

    He seems happy enough to me.

    seem like:

    Going out for lunch seemed like a good idea.

    seem to do something:

    She seemed to take very good care of herself.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  seemThesaurus entry for this meaning of seem
  2. 2
    used when you want to say something in a more careful or polite and less direct way
    it seems/would seem (that):

    It seems there’s going to be a slight delay.

    seem to have done something:

    I seem to have forgotten your name.

    can’t seem to do something:

    We can’t seem to get this computer to work.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  seemThesaurus entry for this meaning of seem

phrase

  • it seems

    used for saying that something appears to exist or be true
    it seems to do something:

    It seems to rain all the time here.

    it seems (that):

    Standing there in the house, it seemed that he had never been away.

    it seems to someone (that):

    It seems to me this is his most important novel.

    it seems like:

    It seems like their marriage is over.

    it seems as if/though:

    It seems as if everybody else knew except me.

    so it seems (=it appears that this is true):

    “He’s not coming with us, then?” “So it seems.”

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  seemThesaurus entry for this meaning of seem

This is the American English definition of seem. View British English definition of seem.

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