Basic+ Word of the Day: seem

seem (verb) past tense: seemed

He seems tired.

We use seem when we think something because of something we saw or heard.

• He seems sad. (=He looks sad.)
• She seems like a nice person. (=I think she’s a nice person because of the things you said about her.)

We can also use seem when we think that something only looks like it’s true, but it probably isn’t.

• She wants to seem like she knows everything.

Common uses

When we want to give our opinion about something, we can say, “It seems to me…” For example, “It seems to me that you should talk to her.”

In pop culture

Do you know the song “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” by Elton John? It’s about how difficult it is to say sorry. When Elton John says, “Sorry seems to be the hardest word,” he means that now he thinks that it’s difficult to say sorry because of the things that are happening to him. Can you hear him sing, “It seems to me…” too?

There are other meanings of seem.