Teem Meaning
/tiːm/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo be stocked to overflowing.
verbTo be prolific; to abound; to be rife.
Sentence Examples
Coral reefs teem with life.
The tropical coral reefs teem with colorful marine life.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small pond will ____ with tadpoles after the spring rain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The coral reefs often ____ with many different species of colorful fish and several other types of marine life today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But well he knew his teeming pangs were vain,
Till Midwife Dryden eas’d his labouring Brain;"
— 1685, Matthew Prior, “A Satyr on the modern Translators”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 20:
"his mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy"
— 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
"The steel works, with their Siemens furnaces, the rail-rolling mill with its enormous single-cylinder engine fitted with Corliss valve gear, and the forge in which were installed the great steam hammers and hydraulic presses—these were teeming with interest, and the best way to pick up information was to work with the millwrights."
— 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 341:
"Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins."
— 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
""Troth, it's teemin' powerful this instiant up there in the mountains. 'Twill be much if you land home afore it's atop of you; […]""
— 1895, Jane Barlow, Strangers at Lisconnel: A Second Series of Irish Idylls, page 45:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The small pond will ____ with tadpoles after the spring rain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The coral reefs often ____ with many different species of colorful fish and several other types of marine life today.