seethe
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Of a liquid or other substance, or a container holding it: to be boiled.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
seethIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsið
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
Of a liquid or other substance, or a container holding it: to be boiled (vigorously); to become boiling hot.
intransitivefigurative
Of a liquid, vapor, etc., or a container holding it: to foam or froth in an agitated manner, as if boiling.
intransitivefigurative
Of a person: to be in an agitated or angry mental state, often in a way that is not obvious to others.
intransitivefigurative
Of a place: to be filled with many people or things moving about actively; to buzz with activity; also, of people or things: to move about actively in a crowd or group.
transitive
To overboil (something) so that it loses its flavour or texture; hence (figurative), to cause (the body, the mind, the spirit, etc.) to become dull through too much alcoholic drink or heat.
intransitivefigurative
Of a place: to have inhabitants in an angry or disaffected mood; to be in a state of unrest.
noun
chiefly figurative
A state of boiling or frothing; ebullition, seething; hence, extreme heat; much activity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a liquid or other substance, or a container holding it: to be boiled (vigorously); to become boiling hot.
Used this way, seethe is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.