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teeming

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Abundantly filled, swarming, or overflowing with life or activity; conveys rich fertility, crowded spaces, or vibrant motion.

Detailed Definition
Teeming is a literary word meaning densely filled or overflowing with life and activity. Here it describes the shore as crowded with people, reinforcing the poem’s image of mass arrival.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The wretched refuse of your teeming shore” uses teeming for a densely crowded, overflowing place; “The teeming harbor flashed with gulls and masts” applies it to abundant life and activity; “A teeming page of names refused to be forgotten” transfers crowding to text and history; “The soil was teeming with roots, beetles, and rain” emphasizes fertile biological abundance.
Additional Notes
“Teeming” is a somewhat specialized literary adjective in this line and may not be instantly clear to all readers.; Found in the poem, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Also Known As
abundant overflowing prolific swarming
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