seine
noun
a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water, having floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the lower.
seine
1 American
[sayn]
/ seɪn /
noun
-
seines
plural
verb (used with object)
-
seines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seined,
past participle, past
-
seining
present participle
-
to fish for or catch with a seine.
-
to use a seine in (water).
verb (used without object)
-
seines,
present (3rd person singular)
-
seined,
past participle, past
-
seining
present participle
Seine
2
American
[sayn, sen]
/ seɪn, sɛn /
noun
-
a river in France, flowing NW through Paris to the English Channel. 480 miles (773 km) long.
-
a former department in N France.
seine
1
British
/ seɪn /
noun
verb
Seine
2
British
/ seɪn, sɛn /
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
seinesimple
-
seinessimple
-
have seinedperfect
-
has seinedperfect
-
am seiningprogressive
-
are seiningprogressive
-
is seiningprogressive
-
have been seiningperfect progressive
-
has been seiningperfect progressive
Past
-
seinedsimple
-
had seinedperfect
-
was seiningprogressive
-
were seiningprogressive
-
had been seiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of seine
before 950; Middle English seyne, Old English segne < West Germanic *sagina < Latin sagēna < Greek sagḗnē fishing net
Vocabulary lists containing seine
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:
Many birds drown in purse seine nets each year.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025
The fishing practices, including trawling and the use of gill and seine nets, were shown to cause physical pressures such as abrasion, smothering, siltation and total habitat loss.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024
Using a seine net, they formed a circle and pulled up their catch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024
The most common method used to catch oily fish is known as "seine" fishing, one of the most environmentally friendly fishing techniques in use today:
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
Fish may also be obtained with the seine at any other place where there are rivers.
From Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836 Volume I. - Proceedings of the First Expedition, 1826-1830 by Robert Fitzroy
Mr. Fiennes roams the gardens that surround the home Maupassant had built in 1883 and cycles by a stretch of the Seine where the author sailed his boats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Céline Dion tribute boat cruises on Seine - complete with costume contests, sing-alongs, DJ sets, are happening throughout September.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Two Canadair planes joined the battle on Monday, scooping up water from the River Seine to douse the flames.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
AmaWaterways just introduced a new culinary experience, Cooking with Mamie, for its voyages on the Seine River in France.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
We came out of the Tuileries into the light and crossed the Seine and then turned up the Rue des Saints Pères.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Local communities believe that certain fishing practices, such as spearfishing with scuba gear and semi-industrial fishing with purse seines and night lights, are major contributors to the decline of fish stocks.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2024
On the shore behind them stood a string of wooden posts used to hold seines for catching eels.
From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2022
Good carbon bargains tend to be seafood caught in midwater trawls and purse seines — nets that don't touch the bottom of the ocean.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2021
For three years researchers working in the Sound of Elsinore, Denmark, sampled fish with traps, seines, gillnets, push nets, fishing poles, bottom trawls, along with visual observations by snorkelers during the day and at night.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 3, 2015
“Oh, the river’s pretty,” he said, “but fishing’s hard work. You try hauling one of those seines up from the bottom sometime and you’ll find out.”
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
In the 1800s, when the pupfish swam throughout the valley, the Paiute peoples seined the fish for food.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2021
We seined under blue skies, taking in the squawking seabirds and miles of wild tidal beach.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 26, 2016
He seined such old tomes as Beale's Natural History of the Sperm Whale and Scoresby's Account of the Arctic Regions for obscure facts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most of the supporting cast were amateurs seined from Philadelphia dramatic groups, or girl friends of members of the crew stuck into the film just to maintain employee relations.
From Time Magazine Archive
I don’t believe there’s going to be much more fish going to be seined this fall––and wouldn’t she make a passage of it in this easterly?
From The Seiners by James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
But since Larry died, Ellie says she’s stuck mostly to purse seining and beach seining when she fishes with their adult sons, Luke and Kyle.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
There are three methods these fisheries use to catch tuna: purse seining, longlining and pole-and-line fishing.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2021
These artisanal techniques are far less harmful than trawling, purse seining or driftnets – and than the reckless sport-fishing boats speeding at 10 knots, trailing long lines.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 13, 2020
I went seining on the east side of the Elwha nearshore with four natural-resources workers from the tribe.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 26, 2016
Men and boys were fishing from the docks, and sometimes we could see people out in boats seining.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
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