seam
Americannoun
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seams
plural
-
the line formed by sewing together pieces of cloth, leather, or the like.
-
the stitches used to make such a line.
-
any line formed by abutting edges.
-
any linear indentation or mark, as a wrinkle or scar.
-
Knitting. a line of stitches formed by purling.
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Geology. a comparatively thin stratum; a bed, as of coal.
verb (used with object)
-
seams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seamed,
past participle, past
-
seaming
present participle
-
to join with or as if with stitches; make the seam or seams of.
-
to furrow; mark with wrinkles, scars, etc.
-
Knitting. to knit with or in a seam.
verb (used without object)
-
seams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seamed,
past participle, past
-
seaming
present participle
-
to become cracked, fissured, or furrowed.
-
Knitting. to make a line of stitches by purling.
noun
-
the line along which pieces of fabric are joined, esp by stitching
-
a ridge or line made by joining two edges
-
a stratum of coal, ore, etc
-
a linear indentation, such as a wrinkle or scar
-
surgery another name for suture
-
(modifier) cricket of or relating to a style of bowling in which the bowler utilizes the stitched seam round the ball in order to make it swing in flight and after touching the ground
a seam bowler
-
full to overflowing
-
dialect doing well, esp financially
verb
-
(tr) to join or sew together by or as if by a seam
-
to make ridges in (knitting) using purl stitch
-
to mark or become marked with or as if with a seam or wrinkle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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seamsimple
-
seamssimple
-
have seamedperfect
-
has seamedperfect
-
am seamingprogressive
-
are seamingprogressive
-
is seamingprogressive
-
have been seamingperfect progressive
-
has been seamingperfect progressive
Past
-
seamedsimple
-
had seamedperfect
-
was seamingprogressive
-
were seamingprogressive
-
had been seamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of seam
before 1000; Middle English seme (noun), Old English sēam; cognate with German Saum hem; akin to sew 1, Greek hymḗn membrane ( see hymen)
Explanation
When you sew two pieces of fabric together, the line you are sewing is the seam. Coal appears in long, linear underground deposits referred to as seams. A garment that is coming to pieces will often first tear at the seams, the weakest parts. People use this image to describe anything that has reached a point where it is simply not holding together––your car could be falling apart at the seams, or if there's been a lot of stress in your life, you could be too — and you might have to move into a seamy neighborhood.
Vocabulary lists containing seam
October Sky
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Sewing Away
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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.
See Examples For:
In between, Ireland were unable to counter as England mixed spin with seam through the middle.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Then you've got to factor in the seam movement and the slope, batting becomes impossible.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
For all the attention on England's batting, it is the seam bowling that is in a bigger state of flux, and a new-look attack had to deliver on Thursday evening.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Where Robinson excelled was in expert use of the helpful conditions with immaculate line and length, topped off with fingertip control to have the ball skipping off the seam.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
She rubs at the seam and keeps her head down.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
McElwee stitches together the past and present to find new meaning in their seams, a jagged line that runs through time and points toward the future.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
He considered different shapes for the container -- like a square or even a star -- but thought it best to avoid having seams and joints, so a stainless steel cylinder won the day.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
The unmoving, shallow water can’t help but grow algae in the beating sun, and since the concrete expands and contracts with shifting temperatures, any seals along the seams have struggled to remain watertight.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2026
In second grade, Mother taught me to hand-sew seams and then to use the old black Singer sewing machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Babou hummed to himself as he smoothed out my shoulder seams and rested his hands on them.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Charlotte is always tightly seamed and belted, while Lisa, a filmmaker, wears bright colors and straddles the line between adventurous pop art flair and polished affluence.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025
There is a kind of rigor here in the wholly invented language that the actors persuasively speak while also somehow sporting chic, seamed trousers, manicured eyebrows and trimmed beards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
Bumrah walked back with a wry smile, and then delivered one that seamed back in and knocked back the stumps.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023
He described the mode as nothing personal to anybody but, simply, blocking out “all distractions. The more distractions, the faster that little seamed ball comes at you.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
Ranofer smiled uncertainly and the old man’s face seamed into a thousand wrinkles of pleasure.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
But he only lasted seven balls, edging a seaming delivery into the safe hands of Marnus Labuschagne at third slip.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
Which makes the lack of upcoming Test cricket in the country all the more heartbreaking for fans of the swinging, seaming and spitting red ball.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2024
A seminal and comprehensive history; Times critic Bharati Mukherjee called Takaki’s method “extraordinary, seaming together meticulous scholarship, impassioned analysis, popular culture and personal memoir.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2021
The contoured silhouettes with intricate seaming, embroidery and couture detailing looked deceptively more expensive than their retail price.
From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2020
He glanced up, a surprised expression seaming his forehead.
From Lost Farm Camp by Harry Herbert Knibbs
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.
