can't seem to

1. Be apparently unable to, as in No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to concentrate on this book. This phrase gives added emphasis to a negative statement, as in the example. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

There is something perversely funny in taking Bill and Ted, who zipped around the world via a magic phone booth, and dumping them in the straitjackets of Vladimir and Estragon, the bedraggled tramps who famously can’t seem to go anywhere, despite desperate vows to move on.

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It’s an irony of our present moment that we have access to more information than any other civilization in history, yet we often can’t seem to be able to sift consensual truth out of this infinite morass.

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In our fiercely tribal and divisive culture, when consensus is illusory and we can’t seem to agree on even the most fundamental facts, the notion of shared history as a societal precept has left the building.

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Children these days "just can't seem to put their smartphones down," says Choi Eun-young, mother of a 14-year-old in Seoul.

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Maybe it’s the dire state of the housing market lately, but I can’t seem to find a rock that’s suitable to live under.

Read more on Salon