teem
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
-
to be prolific or abundant (in); abound (in)
-
obsolete to bring forth (young)
verb
-
(intr; often foll by down or with rain) to pour in torrents
it's teeming down
-
(tr) to pour or empty out
Other Word Forms
- teemer noun
Etymology
Origin of teem1
before 900; Middle English temen, Old English tēman, tīeman to produce (offspring), derivative of tēam team
Origin of teem2
1250–1300; Middle English temen < Old Norse tæma to empty, derivative of tōmr empty, cognate with Old English tōm free from
Explanation
If your neighborhood seems to teem with cats, that means there are a lot of cats running around. When something teems, it swarms or overflows with a large number of things. Don't confuse teem with team. The two words may sound the same, but they have different meanings. Use the noun team when describing a group of people with a common goal, and turn to the verb teem for those times when you need to say that something is overflowing or crowded. Teem is almost always used with the preposition with, as when the busy streets teem with activity.
Vocabulary lists containing teem
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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.
Telegram channels teem with users trading tips and middlemen peddling their services.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025
The waters of Xochimilco - shaped by traditional farming practices and flushed with spring water from the mountains - used to teem with these amphibians.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2025
All of these characters — even the more objectively callous ones like Father, a retired energy industry magnate writing a revisionist biography to absolve his culpability — teem with empathy.
From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024
In the northern Pacific Ocean, undersea slopes leading to the Aleutian Trench are believed to teem with worms, clams, anemones, and countless microbes thriving on methane bubbling up from the sediment.
From Science Magazine • May 21, 2024
The lakes, rivers, Inland Sea, Sea of Japan to the west, and Pacific Ocean to the east teem with fish such as salmon, trout, tuna, sardines, mackerel, herring, and cod.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
