seam

UK/ˈsiːm/US/ˈsiːm/

nounB23 meanings Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,794 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: seams

A seam is the line where two pieces of cloth are sewn together. Run a finger down the inside of a shirt sleeve and the small ridge you feel is the seam.

Seams give way, and the language goes with them: the seam has split, the jacket is coming apart at the seams, and so, sometimes, is a person or a plan. Underground a seam is a long flat layer of coal or ore caught between rocks, which is what miners follow. Anything joined edge to edge has a seam — welded metal, a football, a cricket ball, whose raised seam is exactly what a bowler uses to make it move off the pitch. Seamless means so well joined that you cannot find the join, which is why advertising loves it.

Definitions of seam

1nounseamA line of stitching where two pieces of cloth are joined.B2~29%
“The seam under the arm had come undone.”
2nounlongA long layer of coal, ore or rock lying between other layers.C1~57%
“They followed the coal seam half a mile inland.”
3nounvisibleA visible line where two edges are joined in something other than cloth — in metal, stone or plastic.B2~14%
“You can still see the seam where the two panels were welded.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 20 sentences found in the wild and placed 14 of them on a sense (6 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

seam is a joining line.

Phrases it lives in

come apart at the seams — to fall to pieces, or to stop coping
bursting at the seams — completely full, with no room left

Where it comes from

Seam is one of the oldest words in the sewing box: Old English sēam, from Proto-West Germanic *saum and Proto-Germanic *saumaz, "that which is sewn", traced further back to Proto-Indo-European *syewH-. German Saum and Dutch zoom, both meaning hem, are the same word, and so are Swedish söm and Norwegian saum.

Proto-Indo-European
*syewH-
Proto-Germanic
*saumaz — that which is sewn
Proto-West Germanic
*saum
Old English
sēam — seam
Middle English
seem
English, today
seam

From Middle English seem, seme, from Old English sēam (“seam”), from Proto-West Germanic saum, from Proto-Germanic saumaz (“that which is sewn”). Cognate with Dutch zoom (“hem, edge”), German Saum (“hem, edge”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål søm (“seam”), Norwegian Nynorsk saum (“seam”), Swedish söm (“seam”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Clothes & Fashion, A Man Called Ove, Rocks & Minerals, Knitting & Sewing

First appears in chapter 25 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

seam in the wild

A seam ripper is a small sewing tool used for cutting and removing stitches.
Seam ripper
In using a seam ripper, the sharp point of the tool is inserted into the seam underneath the thread to be cut.
Seam ripper
A two-seam fastball is a pitch in baseball and softball.
Two-seam fastball
A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch in baseball.
Four-seam fastball
The mixture of speed, seam and swing that can be achieved depends on several factors, including the individual bowler's skill, the condition of the ball, and the weather.
Fast bowling

1 / 4

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

Definitions of seam

1nounseamA line of stitching where two pieces of cloth are joined.B2~29%

“The seam under the arm had come undone.”

2nounlongA long layer of coal, ore or rock lying between other layers.C1~57%

“They followed the coal seam half a mile inland.”

3nounvisibleA visible line where two edges are joined in something other than cloth — in metal, stone or plastic.B2~14%

“You can still see the seam where the two panels were welded.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 20 sentences found in the wild and placed 14 of them on a sense (6 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

seam is a joining line.