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steam

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

Water at boiling temperature diffused in the atmosphere.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

steem
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstim

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Water at boiling temperature diffused in the atmosphere

  2. The hot gaseous form of water, formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase (at or above its boiling point temperature).

  3. The suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air.

  4. Pressurized water vapour used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical energy.

  5. Exhaled breath into cold air below the dew point of the exhalation.

  6. The act of cooking by steaming.

verb

  1. transitive

    To expose to the action of steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing, or preparing.

  2. Rise as vapor

  3. intransitive

    To rise in vapour; to issue, or pass off, as vapour.

  4. Get very angry

    “Her indifference to his amorous advances really steamed the young man.”

  5. intransitivefiguratively

    To become angry; to fume; to be incensed.

  6. transitive

    To cover with condensed water vapor.

adjective

  1. Old-fashioned; from before the digital age.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

More ways to use steam

  • “Her indifference to his amorous advances really steamed the young man.”verb
  • “The rain forest was literally steaming.”verb
  • “The ship steamed off into the Pacific.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Water / hot

steam enginesteam turbinesteam bathsaturated steam

Steam / travel

steam locomotive

Other combinations

steam powersteam navigationsteam pressure

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • steamernounInflected form

    A clam that is usually steamed in the shell.

  • steamingadverbInflected form

    Extremely.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • steamshipnounDerived noun · specialist

    A ship powered by one or more steam engines.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • steam-heatverbCompound term

    Heat by means of steam.

  • steam heatingnounCompound term

    A heating system in which steam is generated in boilers and piped to radiators.

  • steam ironnounCompound term

    A pressing iron that can emit steam.

  • steam linenounCompound term

    A pipe conducting steam.

  • steam locomotivenounCompound term

    A locomotive powered by a steam engine.

  • steam organnounCompound term

    A musical instrument consisting of a series of steam whistles played from a keyboard.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • steamboatnounRelated term

    A boat propelled by a steam engine.

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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.