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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TEEMING

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connect this word to others:

The word teeming often has an icky tone: "a pond teeming with mosquitoes," "a Petri dish teeming with bacteria."

See if you can recall two synonyms of teeming that sound much nicer:

1. R__e, as in, "His cheerful chatter is r__e with references to video games;" and

2. R____te, as in, "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes is r____te with tender wisdom."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

make your point with...

"TEEMING"

The word "teem" comes from Old English. It first meant "to give birth to." 

When Shakespeare wrote about the "teeming wombe of royall Kings," the meaning of "teem" started to change.

And today, "teem" means "to be full and swarming," or "to be very productive."

So, teeming things are full and swarming, or very productive.

Pronunciation:
TEEM ing

Part of speech:
Adjective: "the teeming sidewalks."
Also a verb: "the sidewalks teem with shoppers," "the sidewalks were teeming with shoppers."

Other common forms:
teem, teemed

How to use it: 

Most of the time, you talk about something that teems with other things, or about something that's teeming with other things: "the shops teem with tourists," "the shoreline is teeming with tiny pink shells," "the poem teems with beautiful images," "the episodes are teeming with nerdy references to science and literature."

You can also just refer to something as teeming, if your readers will understand what it's teeming with: "It's Christmas Eve, and I fight my way through the teeming aisles;" "The island is home to thousands of seals, and its teeming shores are deafening."

examples:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
   — Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," 1903

"It was mid-March, a time of dormancy for most plants in the region. Poplar trees, bare of any leaves, lined either side of the road. But the farm was already teeming with life."
   — Greta Moran, Salon, 10 May 2019

has this page helped you understand "teeming"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "teeming" without saying "abundant" or "overflowing."

try it out:

Recall a crowded event you attended.

Fill in the blanks: "The (place or event) was teeming with (a certain kind of people)."

Example: "The Old Dominion building was teeming with mac and cheese enthusiasts. One girl even came dressed as a noodle."




before you review, play:

Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.

This month, we're playing "What's the Word?"

On Reddit, r/whatstheword is a community of about 55,000 members: folks who gather to help each other out when they can't think of a particular word. "It's on the tip of my tongue," they say. Or, "This word might not even exist. Help!"

In each issue this month, check out a post from the community, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase in question. We'll work our way from relatively easy to extremely hard questions as the month goes on.

From the previous issue: A community member asked, "Is there a word for the situation in a TV series always returning to normal at the end of the episode, regardless of what’s happened? Always Sunny is a good example."

Answer: While great suggestions included "episodic," "self-contained," "negative continuity," and "returning to the status quo,” the most precise answer was "snap back."

Try this today: A community member asked, "What's the word for the effect in which a group of people does something that none of the participants wants to do? So for example: In a family of four the dad suggests to go to Disneyland. Obviously he doesn't want to Disneyland himself but 'the kids will love it,' he thinks to himself. The wife agrees; she would hate a trip to Disneyland but the kids will have so much fun. Now the son thinks Disney is boring and a trip to Disneyland would be agonizing, but since his parents both want to go and his little sister might enjoy it he responds enthusiastically, 'yes let's go to Disneyland!' The little sister has a similar thought pattern and also agrees to go. Now the whole family of four goes on a trip to Disneyland all the while everyone would much rather stay home. If I recall correctly there was some sort of term or name for this effect; can anyone help me out here?"

I'll share the answer in the upcoming issue, but if you can't wait, you can view the whole original thread here.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of TEEMING WITH is

A. DEVOID OF.
B. MIXED WITH.
C. BOILING WITH.

2. It's best not to think about it, how we're all teeming with _____.

A. germs
B. mortality
C. vulnerability



1. A
2. A


a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
   36 ways to study words.
   Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
   How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.

To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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