seine
noun
a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water, having floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the lower.
seine
1 American
[seyn]
/ seɪn /
noun
-
seines
plural
verb (used with object)
-
seines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seined,
past participle, past
-
seining
present participle
-
to fish for or catch with a seine.
-
to use a seine in (water).
verb (used without object)
-
seines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seined,
past participle, past
-
seining
present participle
Seine
2
American
[seyn, sen]
/ seɪn, sɛn /
noun
-
a river in France, flowing NW through Paris to the English Channel. 480 miles (773 km) long.
-
a former department in N France.
seine
1
British
/ seɪn /
noun
verb
Seine
2
British
/ seɪn, sɛn /
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
seinesimple
-
seinessimple
-
have seinedperfect
-
has seinedperfect
-
am seiningprogressive
-
are seiningprogressive
-
is seiningprogressive
-
have been seiningperfect progressive
-
has been seiningperfect progressive
Past
-
seinedsimple
-
had seinedperfect
-
was seiningprogressive
-
were seiningprogressive
-
had been seiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of seine
before 950; Middle English seyne, Old English segne < West Germanic *sagina < Latin sagēna < Greek sagḗnē fishing net
Vocabulary lists containing seine
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Many birds drown in purse seine nets each year.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025
The fishing practices, including trawling and the use of gill and seine nets, were shown to cause physical pressures such as abrasion, smothering, siltation and total habitat loss.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024
Using a seine, the Karuk Tribe fisheries team formed a circle and pulled up their catch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024
The most common method used to catch oily fish is known as "seine" fishing, one of the most environmentally friendly fishing techniques in use today:
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
Cap'n John, us looks towards 'ee, Wish 'ee luck when shuttin' seine, Wish 'ee tummals at the jowstin', Wish 'ee out an' home again.
From Cornish Catches and Other Verses by Bernard Moore
Already, though, Seine appears to be taking centre stage.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Two Canadair planes joined the battle on Monday, scooping up water from the River Seine to douse the flames.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
AmaWaterways just introduced a new culinary experience, Cooking with Mamie, for its voyages on the Seine River in France.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Soon after, we discover Z speaks Latin and French with ease and that his ideal first date involves transporting his soft target to Paris to sip Kir Royales by the Seine.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Across the Seine, the newly built Palais du Trocadero hosts art exhibits, concerts, and meetings.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Local communities believe that certain fishing practices, such as spearfishing with scuba gear and semi-industrial fishing with purse seines and night lights, are major contributors to the decline of fish stocks.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2024
When parts of the river dry out, officials use hand nets and seines to pull fish from warm puddles and relocate them to still-flowing sections of the river.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2022
Good carbon bargains tend to be seafood caught in midwater trawls and purse seines — nets that don't touch the bottom of the ocean.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2021
For three years researchers working in the Sound of Elsinore, Denmark, sampled fish with traps, seines, gillnets, push nets, fishing poles, bottom trawls, along with visual observations by snorkelers during the day and at night.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 3, 2015
“Oh, the river’s pretty,” he said, “but fishing’s hard work. You try hauling one of those seines up from the bottom sometime and you’ll find out.”
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
In the 1800s, when the pupfish swam throughout the valley, the Paiute peoples seined the fish for food.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2021
We seined under blue skies, taking in the squawking seabirds and miles of wild tidal beach.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 26, 2016
From manufacturers and retailers Hubbard, promising heavy plugs on the air, seined some $560,000 in merchandise.
From Time Magazine Archive
He seined such old tomes as Beale's Natural History of the Sperm Whale and Scoresby's Account of the Arctic Regions for obscure facts.
From Time Magazine Archive
From the waters of this river, since man was, have the Indians drawn and dipped and seined their sustenance—inconnu, jack-fish, grayling, white-fish, and loche.
From The New North by Agnes Deans Cameron
Reef netting differs from other fishing methods – gillnetting, beach seining and purse seining — in that the boats and net are stationary; they’re tethered to the sea bottom with minimal anchors.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
There are three methods these fisheries use to catch tuna: purse seining, longlining and pole-and-line fishing.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2021
These artisanal techniques are far less harmful than trawling, purse seining or driftnets – and than the reckless sport-fishing boats speeding at 10 knots, trailing long lines.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 13, 2020
I went seining on the east side of the Elwha nearshore with four natural-resources workers from the tribe.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 26, 2016
Men and boys were fishing from the docks, and sometimes we could see people out in boats seining.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
