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
[sayn]
/ 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
[sayn, 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 net, they formed a circle and pulled up their catch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 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
This seine was simply a long piece of the wire-netting which we had brought with us to serve as land-crab-proof fencing round the camp.
From The Cruise of the 'Alerte' The narrative of a search for treasure on the desert island of Trinidad by E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight
At a Sunday evening gala inside a floating art museum on the Seine River, industry executives mingled over drinks and a live jazz band while locals passed by on runs along the water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
River levels have been much lower than average - in some places exceptionally low -with the Seine, Rhine and Danube among those particularly affected.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Maybe you’re sitting in London and decide you’d like to take one of those sightseeing boats on the Seine to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 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
I remember, that night, watching the teenagers gathering along the pathway near the Seine to do all their teenage things.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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
Most of the supporting cast were amateurs seined from Philadelphia dramatic groups, or girl friends of members of the crew stuck into the film just to maintain employee relations.
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
Sometimes two little strings with a silver bead at one end were fastened to the mask, and seined as mouthpieces.
From Sabbath in Puritan New England by Alice Morse Earle
Afterward, Lummi fisherman turned to seining, or gillnetting.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
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
A bill stalled in the State Legislature would prohibit purse seining of menhaden in New York.
From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2018
Bluefin tuna are harvested on both sides of the Atlantic, using primarily harpoon and rod-and-reel in the west and seining nets and longline fishing in the east.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 29, 2018
The Ocean Queen was a stout, no-nonsense workboat built from thick planks of Alaska yellow cedar, rigged for long-lining and purse seining.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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