simmer
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
simerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪmɚ
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
To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
intransitivefigurative
To be on the point of breaking out into anger; to be agitated.
intransitivefigurative
To remain angry with someone or something past the point of exhaustion; to resign oneself to holding a grudge, especially after some failed attempts to resolve a situation.
intransitivefigurative
To develop gradually, of an idea or plan.
noun
The state or process of simmering.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
Used this way, simmer is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a food and cooking use: everyday in kitchens and recipes.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Cooking/food
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use simmer
- “The stew remained at a simmer for hours.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Cooking in a liquid that has been brought to a boil.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Become quiet or calm, especially after a state of agitation.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.