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Definition
to have a large number of things — especially things that are movingMuch less commonly, teem can mean to pour down — especially said of heavy rain. In the past, teem was also used to describe someone as pregnant or giving birth.
- Most of the county, it seemed, was there: the hall was teeming with slicked-up country people.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
teeming = filled (with a large number of something)
- Her hair is thick and brown, the color of a rotten branch teeming with luscious ants.Katherine Applegate -- The One and Only Ivan
- Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Backstage, Cecil and I found the narrow hallway teeming with people: adults in homemade three-corner hats, Confederate caps, Spanish-American War hats, and World War helmets.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest, and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming.Ray Bradbury -- A Sound of Thunder
- It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.William Faulkner -- A Rose for Emily
- Ehe streets teem with people, and the cries of the peddlers are incessant.Geraldine Brooks -- Year of Wonders
- The newspapers have teemed with the most inflammatory railings on this subject.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
- I show it Lorien, the vast ocean and thick forests and verdant hills teeming with life and vitality.Pittacus Lore -- I Am Number Four
- The house teemed with other foster children, older and bigger than Michael and Carlos, who picked on them.Michael Lewis -- The Blind Side
- The dust was antique spice, burnt maple leaves, a prickling blue that teemed and sifted to earth.Ray Bradbury -- Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Luckily, they would not starve with the pond and creeks teeming with fish.Elizabeth George Speare -- The Sign of the Beaver
- Those in the forefront could now be seen in detail: ships with tall masts and black sails and decks that teemed with malevolent life.Henry H. Neff -- The Second Siege
- The seashore teemed with no weeds, no crabs, no crayfish, no coral, no pebbles, no rocks.Yann Martel -- Life of Pi
- The flowery meads and bird-fruitful spinneys of the Arras teemed and rippled over the four walls.T. H. White -- The Once and Future King
- The half-built apartment complex in front of him was teeming with workers.Joshua Davis -- Spare Parts
- The seats below us teem with people, many of them children, all of them Silver.Victoria Aveyard -- Red Queen
- That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker; Each minute teems a new one.William Shakespeare -- Macbeth
- The air was full of birds, the earth seemed teeming with life.Johann Wyss -- The Swiss Family Robinson
- All I know of heaven and all I know of death is in this park: an elegant universe in ceaseless motion, teeming with ruined ruins and screaming children.John Green -- The Fault in Our Stars
teeming = to have a large number of things — especially things that are moving
teemed = was filled (with a large number of something)
teeming = filled (with a large number of something)
teeming = filled with busy people
teeming = filled with busy people