List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 46

SYNONYMS: boil, simmer, seethe, stew.
These verbs refer to the state of liquid in cooking and to allegories of people's state of mind.

To boil is to cook in a liquid heated to a temperature at which it bubbles up and gives off vapor: boil potatoes. Figuratively boil pertains to intense agitation: She boiled with resentment.
Simmer denotes gentle cooking just at or below the boiling point (Let the stock simmer for several hours); figuratively it refers to a state of gentle ferment: Plans were simmering in his mind.
Seethe emphasizes in both senses the turbulence of steady boiling at high temperature: Water seethed in the caldron. The city had been seething with discontent.
Stew refers literally to slow boiling and figuratively to a persistent but not violent state of agitation: I always add a little Madeira to the liquid when I stew prunes. They don't want a man to fret and stew about his work.