seethe
Americanverb (used without object)
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seethes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seethed,
past participle, past
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sod,
past (Obsolete)
-
sodden,
past participle (Obsolete)
-
seething
present participle
-
to surge or foam as if boiling.
-
to be in a state of agitation or excitement.
-
Archaic. to boil.
verb (used with object)
-
seethes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seethed,
past participle, past
-
sod,
past (Obsolete)
-
sodden,
past participle (Obsolete)
-
seething
present participle
-
to soak or steep.
-
to cook by boiling or simmering; boil.
noun
-
the act of seething.
-
the state of being agitated or excited.
verb
-
(intr) to boil or to foam as if boiling
-
(intr) to be in a state of extreme agitation, esp through anger
-
(tr) to soak in liquid
-
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
-
seethesimple
-
seethessimple
-
have seethedperfect
-
have soddenperfect
-
has seethedperfect
-
has soddenperfect
-
am seethingprogressive
-
are seethingprogressive
-
is seethingprogressive
-
have been seethingperfect progressive
-
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
Griping to themselves in their apartments at different ends of California, they both seethe with resentment for having been unfairly treated by the other.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
People are right to seethe over the stranglehold film and TV franchises have on the industry.
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
Uncertainty makes the universe seethe with infinite energy.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
His father Carlos seethes at their current ordeal.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
Flirting between gears near its 8,600-rpm redline, the Z06 roars and seethes like a blast furnace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
A difficult co-worker, she’s not only in everybody’s private business but she seethes with resentment when her customers defect to her colleagues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
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
“Didn’t you hear what Zik said the other day? Eastern Nigeria seethes, seethes, and will continue to seethe until the federal government addresses the massacres,” Professor Ezeka said, his hoarse voice quickly fading.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
While the oil giants seethed, Venture Global said in initial-public-offering filings that it generated almost $7 billion in net income in 2022 and 2023 combined.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
"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
He seethed when plum roles failed to arrive and was forced to follow “An Officer and a Gentleman” with a role in “Jaws 3-D,” a second sequel to Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
You could see his lips pursed as he seethed recalling the question from the special prosecutor.
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024
I was the worst kind of coward; I seethed in silence and never said anything to anybody.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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
Then she covered the hole with a large slab of sod.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
A million tons of sodden dirt avalanched down onto Riverside Drive from Elysian Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
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
The ball travelled unpredictably across the sodden surface.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 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
When it was done, the men took their sodden sleeping bags and crawled into their new hut.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Though seething about the penalty, Arteta took the opportunity during his post-match media conference to praise his side's defensive efforts.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Kenneth Lonergan shot this seething, richly authentic New York City drama in 2005, when the rawness of post-9/11 NYC was already a part of everyday life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Just below the surface, however, the soccer world was seething with discontent.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
"I would've been quite happy to get in my car and drive home, I was absolutely seething," said Carter afterwards.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 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.
