seethe
Americanverb (used without object)
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to surge or foam as if boiling.
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to be in a state of agitation or excitement.
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Archaic. to boil.
verb (used with object)
-
to soak or steep.
-
to cook by boiling or simmering; boil.
noun
-
the act of seething.
-
the state of being agitated or excited.
verb
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(intr) to boil or to foam as if boiling
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(intr) to be in a state of extreme agitation, esp through anger
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(tr) to soak in liquid
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archaic (tr) to cook or extract the essence of (a food) by boiling
noun
Synonym Usage
See boil 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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seethesimple
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seethessimple
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have seethedperfect
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have soddenperfect
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has seethedperfect
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has soddenperfect
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am seethingprogressive
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are seethingprogressive
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is seethingprogressive
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have been seethingperfect progressive
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has been seethingperfect progressive
Past
-
seethedsimple
-
sodsimple
-
had seethedperfect
-
had soddenperfect
-
was seethingprogressive
-
were seethingprogressive
-
had been seethingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of seethe
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English sēothan; cognate with German sieden, Swedish sjuda
Explanation
If a liquid seethes, it is boiling, but if it's a person who's seething, watch out! He or she is really angry! In the cooking sense, to seethe means to "boil" and if you are seething with anger, you might say that your blood is boiling. However seethe can also mean "filled with activity." Imagine a room seething with excited people. Now imagine that you are watching that room from a balcony. See how the people move here and there? It's almost as if they are bubbling around.
Vocabulary lists containing seethe
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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:
As Mira and Edgar tentatively approach discussion of the breach in the family, it’s primarily Beckett who begins to seethe with anger at what happened—and what didn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
U.S. consumers over the border will seethe with envy.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
People are right to seethe over the stranglehold film and TV franchises have on the industry.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
Fans were overjoyed to seethe five Spice Girls back together for the first time in years, with many commenting on Beckham's post.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2024
The trees seethe and the house smolders, and standing in the gravel of the driveway, the daylight nearly finished, the locksmith has an unsettling thought: Someone might be coming for us.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
His father Carlos seethes at their current ordeal.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
“That’s a handsome man right there!” exclaims the mother of the junior competitor, who seethes as the audience laughs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
One, 3800-meter-high Mount Erebus, seethes menacingly just 40 kilometers from McMurdo Station, Antarctica’s biggest research base.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024
Amaya just seethes with contempt at the situation.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2023
The heart of a nuclear reactor seethes with deadly radioactivity.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Exasperated travelers seethed at airports for hours and sometimes had to wait a day for the next available flight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
"It's a Manchester derby," seethed former United captain Gary Neville on Sky Sports after the dull goalless draw at Old Trafford.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025
Where “Erasure” seethed at injustice, the anachronistic “American Fiction” is most effective at skewering its protagonist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
Esther Rolle, who died in 1998, seethed at the show’s increased emphasis on J.J. as "Good Times" found more mainstream success.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2023
Suddenly the whole building seethed like a wasp nest.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
The guitarist didn’t skip a beat: “That suits me, I’m a miserable sod most of the time.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
For this enormous game, new grass was specially sourced from a nearby sod farm.
From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 2026
Mr Williams said: "I'm just a stubborn old sod and I'm not going to give in. I would appreciate it if anybody said to me 'you were right and we were wrong'."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025
SoFi’s 70-by-110-meter field, grown at a sod farm in Washington state, was laid down in strips earlier this month and was used for the first time Thursday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025
The houses were roofed with sod, the windows shuttered with ragged pieces of hide.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
And if you aren’t moved by it, there is something wrong and you must investigate your sodden heart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Heavy rain forced play to be suspended early in the final round with large areas of standing water on the sodden course.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
Tactics once celebrated in the sodden conditions of certain Premier League grounds are now the height of fashion for the competition's leading sides.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2025
"The walls of our showroom are still drying out, but the walls are still sodden," Mr Beazant said.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
Constance pushed her way through to the limp sodden figure.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Belgium is seething, ready to announce the chocolate, frites and cyclocross sanctions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Meanwhile, Salieri’s invisible seething paralyzes him, turning into the punishment he believes God inflicted on him.
From Salon ● May 16, 2026
It’s a truly stunning expression of his rage and betrayal — a seething accusation — told entirely through bodies and gesture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
The public's seething anger over corruption, as exemplified in the Gen Z protests, was thus directed at the establishment, making the RSP - a relative newcomer - seem more attractive.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026
Hazel could not see a path ahead of her, but still she moved forward into the great seething nothing—for she had put her faith in the cold now, as it was all she had left.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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.
