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)
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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
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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
-
seethesimple
-
seethessimple
-
have seethedperfect
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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
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
“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
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
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
"We don't have friends, Frank. We will never have friends because there are no friends to be had," Bill seethes.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2023
My artwork seethes with secret messages for him.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Some Google employees who had spent years working on the technology seethed at being lapped.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 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
“You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh, you lied about them other kids that’s out there hoping that you come,” Lamar seethed.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
Landlords seethed that the moratorium unfairly allowed tenants to skip rent without immediate consequences and left property owners financially vulnerable as many of their bills were still due.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
“That isn’t true,” Seven seethed under her breath.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Grand Detour, Ill.: John Deere’s “self-polishing” steel blade allowed settlers to slice through the sticky Midwest sod, unlocking the agricultural potential of the American heartland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 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
Further down the street, another tree had been uprooted so forcefully that it also pulled up a big corner of sod from a lawn.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2024
Ten thousand men working through the night had touched up the paint and staff and planted pansies and laid sod as a thousand scrubwomen washed, waxed, and polished the floors of the great buildings.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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
"One time there was a carpet leading up to the altar that became absolutely sodden with urine and droppings and had to be thrown away. They also destroyed the brass work."
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025
On the coastal road at Playa Canizo, a man in a straw hat and sodden fatigues, clasping an equally wet suitcase, thrust out his left arm, hoping for a ride to safety.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
Norris was eating away at the Dutchman’s advantage until Verstappen grabbed back the initiative in spectacular style with a stunning victory from 17th on the grid in a sodden Brazil earlier this month.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
Wearied by all they had gone through, the sodden rabbits crouched without talking, incapable of any feeling but a dull relief and without even the energy to wonder what was going to happen next.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Her revealing, sometimes seething account makes clear that, rather than being solo affairs, the safest rescues are accomplished by teams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Just below the surface, however, the soccer world was seething with discontent.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Prosecutor Nicholas de la Poer KC told the jury Coleman was "seething with hatred on the inside".
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
The war in Iran is a seething stalemate, the price of oil is up about 60% this year, inflation jumped to 3.3% in March—and still U.S. stocks set all-time highs this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
My arm stung, but I was also seething.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
