"can't seem" meaning in English

See can't seem in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: can't seem [present, singular, third-person], couldn't seem [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|can't<can't,-,couldn't,-> seem}} can't seem (third-person singular simple present can't seem, no present participle, simple past couldn't seem, no past participle)
  1. Seem to be unable. Tags: no-past-participle, no-present-participle
    Sense id: en-can't_seem-en-verb-nyiNqMjf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English negative polarity items, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 69 31 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 82 18 Disambiguation of English negative polarity items: 88 12 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 84 16
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can't, seem. Tags: no-past-participle, no-present-participle
    Sense id: en-can't_seem-en-verb-TH-3X31n

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for can't seem meaning in English (1.8kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "can't seem",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "couldn't seem",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "can't<can't,-,couldn't,-> seem"
      },
      "expansion": "can't seem (third-person singular simple present can't seem, no present participle, simple past couldn't seem, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "82 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Negative polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "84 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can't seem to lift the box alone. Would you give me a hand, please?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Seem to be unable."
      ],
      "id": "en-can't_seem-en-verb-nyiNqMjf",
      "links": [
        [
          "unable",
          "unable"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "You can't seem bored when you're at a job interview. If you are bored, hide it!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can't, seem."
      ],
      "id": "en-can't_seem-en-verb-TH-3X31n",
      "links": [
        [
          "can't",
          "can't#English"
        ],
        [
          "seem",
          "seem#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "can't seem"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English negative polarity items",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "can't seem",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "couldn't seem",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "can't<can't,-,couldn't,-> seem"
      },
      "expansion": "can't seem (third-person singular simple present can't seem, no present participle, simple past couldn't seem, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can't seem to lift the box alone. Would you give me a hand, please?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Seem to be unable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unable",
          "unable"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "You can't seem bored when you're at a job interview. If you are bored, hide it!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can't, seem."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can't",
          "can't#English"
        ],
        [
          "seem",
          "seem#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "can't seem"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.