teeming
1 Americanadjective
-
abounding or swarming with something, as with people.
We elbowed our way through the teeming station.
-
prolific or fertile.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teeming1
First recorded in 1525–35; teem 1 + -ing 2
Origin of teeming2
Explanation
Teeming means completely full, especially with living things. If your grandmother's apartment is teeming with cats, she sure has a lot of them. Any time something (or someplace) is filled with life, it's teeming with it. A gorgeous purple garden in the south of France might be teeming with lavender plants, and you might describe the crowded state fair grounds as teeming with people. The Old English root teman means to give birth to, and this used to be a common meaning of teeming — being fertile or pregnant, or producing young.
Vocabulary lists containing teeming
The Vernal Vocabulary of Spring
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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The Alchemist
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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.
Teeming with plant and animal life, the oceans are responsible for creating half of the globe's oxygen supply and are vital to combatting climate change, conservationists say.
From Barron's • Jan. 17, 2026
Teeming with humor, nostalgia and straight-up horror, “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” is a perfect placeholder until we can get back to the Upside Down.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2023
Teeming with talent, they would find a way to bungle the first half of the season as though they were replacement players subbing in for a group of starters on strike.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 21, 2022
Teeming with frantic passengers and chaos this week, next week will likely find airports quite empty once again, a different kind of disorder.
From Slate • Mar. 18, 2020
So canopied lay an untasted feast Teeming a perfume.
From Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends by Keats, John
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.
