teem

CEFRC1

/tiːm/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To be full of people or things.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.

Examples

  • The tropical coral reefs teem with colorful marine life.

  • Coral reefs teem with life.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To fall prolifically.

  2. To be stocked to overflowing.

  3. To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.

More examples

In context

  • Fish teem in this pond.

  • But well he knew his teeming pangs were vain, Till Midwife Dryden eas’d his labouring Brain;

  • his mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The small pond will blank with tadpoles after the spring rain.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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).