seem

表示“看起来、似乎是”，用于描述根据外表或情况形成的印象；另有一个现已过时的“适合、相称”义项。

💡 记忆钩子

把 seem 想成“从外面看上去像是这样”的一扇窗：你看到的是表象或当下判断，所以说“看起来如此”，并不保证事实一定如此；古旧的“适合、相称”义也可理解为“看起来与某人或某物相合”。

📝 学习建议

先掌握“seem + 形容词”和“seem to + 动词”这两个高频结构，再学习“it seems that/like …”等扩展形式。
不要把 seem 当作“确定是”；它通常表达观察所得的印象或不完全确定的判断。

📖 中文释义

verb

core 看起来；似乎

📖 表示根据看到的外表、听到的信息或当前情况形成印象，相当于“看起来……、似乎……”。这种说法保留了一点不确定性，表示说话人是在作判断，而不是断言事实。

💡 常用“seem + 形容词”表示看起来处于某种状态，如“seem tired”；也可用“seem to + 动词”或“It seems that …”说明似乎发生了某事。不要说成“seem something”来直接连接普通名词，也不要把它误解为“证明了”。

copulative

You seem tired today.

你今天看起来很累。

It seems to be raining outside.

外面似乎正在下雨。
rare 适合；相称

📖 这是 seem 的古旧义，表示某人或某物与某种情况相合、相称，相当于“适合”或“合宜”；现代英语中几乎不这样使用。

💡 现代日常英语中不要用这个义项来表达“适合”，应改用表示合适或相称的常用词。它主要出现在古典文学或历史语境中，不能根据现代“看起来”义随意推导出这种用法。

obsolete

seems present,singular,third-person seeming participle,present seemed participle,past seemed past

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 4 组

give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect; ; ;

同义词集: look appear seem

She seems to be sleeping

This appears to be a very difficult problem

This project looks fishy

They appeared like people who had not eaten or slept for a long time

上位: be 下位: beam, cut, feel, gleam, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, jump, jump out, leap out, lift, loom, make, radiate, rear, rise, shine, sound, stand out, stick out

seem to be true, probable, or apparent;

同义词集: appear seem

It seems that he is very gifted

It appears that the weather in California is very bad

上位: be

appear to one's own mind or opinion;

同义词集: seem

I seem to be misunderstood by everyone

I can't seem to learn these Chinese characters

上位: appear

appear to exist

同义词集: seem

There seems no reason to go ahead with the project now

上位: be

🌳 词源

源自中古英语，最初与“适合、相称”有关，后来主要发展为“看起来、似乎是”。

From Middle English semen (“to seem, befit, be becoming”), from Old Norse sœma (“to conform to, beseem, befit”), from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną (“to unite, fit”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; whole”). Cognate with Scots seme (“to be fitting; beseem”), Danish sømme (“to beseem”), Old Swedish søma, Faroese søma (“to be proper”). Related also to Old Norse sómi (“honour”) ( > archaic Danish somme (“decent comportment”)), Old Norse sœmr (“fitting, seemly”), Old English sēman (“to reconcile, bring an agreement”), Old English sōm (“agreement”).

🔄 变式

seemed past seeming present seems present

🏷 单词标签 & 词根