seemly

English

Etymology

From Middle English semly, semely, semelich, from Old Norse sœmiligr (“seemly”); equivalent to seem +‎ -ly. Cognate with Icelandic sæmilegur (“seemly, passable”), Danish sømmelig (“seemly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːmli/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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Adjective

seemly (comparative seemlier, superlative seemliest)

1. (of behavior) Appropriate; suited to the occasion or purpose; becoming.

   His behavior was seemly, as befits a gentleman.

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     I am a woman, lacking wit / To make a seemly answer to such persons.

   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Suspense of judgment and exercise of charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of these controversies.

Synonyms

• apposite

Antonyms

• unseemly

Derived terms

• seemlihead
• seemlily
• seemliness

Translations

appropriate

• Armenian: պատշաճ (hy) (patšač)
• Bulgarian: пристоен (bg) (pristoen), подобаващ (bg) (podobavašt)
• Dutch: correct (nl), fatsoenlijk (nl), passend (nl),
• German: schicklich (de), anständig (de), gesittet (de), passend (de), vernünftig (de), korrekt (de), angebracht (de), angemessen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐍉𐍆 (gadōf)
• Italian: decente (it)
• Middle English: seme, semly
• Plautdietsch: sitlich
• Portuguese: decente (pt), adequado (pt)
• Spanish: ubicado (es), decente (es), adecuado (es)
• Swedish: passande (sv)

Adverb

seemly (comparative more seemly, superlative most seemly)

1. Appropriately, fittingly.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The great earthes wombe they open to the sky, / And with sad Cypresse seemely it embraue [...].

Anagrams

• Emleys, Mesley, Semley

Middle English

Adjective

seemly

1. Alternative form of semly