leach
verb (used with object)
to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
leach
1 American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
verb (used with object)
-
leaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leached,
past participle, past
-
leaching
present participle
-
to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
-
to cause (water or other liquid) to percolate through something.
verb (used without object)
-
leaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leached,
past participle, past
-
leaching
present participle
-
(of ashes, soil, etc.) to undergo the action of percolating water.
-
to percolate, as water.
noun
-
the act or process of leaching.
-
a product or solution obtained by leaching; leachate.
-
the material leached.
-
a vessel for use in leaching.
leach
2
American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
noun
Nautical.
leach
1
British
/ liːtʃ /
verb
noun
-
the act or process of leaching
-
a substance that is leached or the constituents removed by leaching
-
a porous vessel for leaching
Leach
2
British
/ liːtʃ /
noun
leach
3
British
/ liːtʃ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leachsimple
-
leachessimple
-
have leachedperfect
-
has leachedperfect
-
am leachingprogressive
-
are leachingprogressive
-
is leachingprogressive
-
have been leachingperfect progressive
-
has been leachingperfect progressive
Past
-
leachedsimple
-
had leachedperfect
-
was leachingprogressive
-
were leachingprogressive
-
had been leachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leach
1425–75; late Middle English leche leachate, infusion, probably Old English *læc ( e ), *lec ( e ), akin to leccan to wet, moisten, causative of leak
Explanation
When minerals or other materials are pulled out of some substance by a liquid, you can say that they leach from it. A flood can leach important nutrients out of a farmer's field. In agriculture, when farmers allow cattle to graze too much in one spot, or don't rotate their crops from field to field over the years, they risk having a heavy rain leach nutrients from the soil. Sometimes farmers will use water to deliberately leach unwanted materials, like salt, from a field. The verb leach has an Old English root word, leccan, or "to moisten, water, wet, or irrigate."
Vocabulary lists containing leach
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Africa - Introductory
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Physical Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When old records make it to a landfill, they’re not only likely to outlive the site, but can also leach plasticizers, a Keele University report found.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
They wonder if toxic materials could leach into the soil and contaminate groundwater, if not while the solar site is operational, then some decades in the future, when it reaches the end of its life.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026
“Underground and in-situ leach mining operations are also less exposed to diesel supply risks.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
However they said that their modelling study still does not take into account an array of other ways plastic could harm health, such as microplastics or chemicals that can leach out of food packaging.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
She held him like that, willing him to leach warmth from her, willing his body to learn from the rhythm of her heartbeat, the steadiness of her breath.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
They scored from their first set as a high kick into the sun on the last tackle was spilled by young Saints full-back Liv Leach and bounced invitingly for Derbyshire to score.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Leach recently ran his first 50K, and “my shoe choice for the event was awful,” he says of the minimalist Nike Terra Kigers that left his feet torn up from the rocky course.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Now, Leach typically logs one big trail run—usually 15-plus miles—per week alongside his other workouts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
But Leach finally got to enjoy putting on a school uniform as part of filming.
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2026
I’d been hoping to get Ms. Leach for fifth grade.
From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate
Sometimes, the chemical “sauce” leaches out of plastic, a process that, research has shown, can be toxic.
From Slate ● May 28, 2025
Namely, local bull trout populations are struggling because the pond leaches groundwater away from Gold Creek itself.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
But in some places, fluoride leaches from rocks into the groundwater.
From Salon ● May 7, 2024
"Then there are the pesticides for insects and fungicides for parasites. It is a monoculture which kills off biodiversity and leaches chemicals into our rivers."
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2023
If that fog leaches out of the jungle, or the monkeys return.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
The material is then leached into a wine‑red liquid, filtered, evaporated and finally transformed into a fine white powder -- lithium.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
A carbon water filter can also reduce potential exposure to chemicals and pesticides that may have leached into your water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
The authors of the Communications Earth and Environment paper cite, for example, research showing hydrochloric acid emitted from solid rocket launches killing fish after it leached into nearby water.
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2025
Over time, as these pipes have corroded, they have leached lead — a chemical with no safe level of exposure — into tap water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2024
The black leached right out, just like Aunt Carrie said it would.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
The chemical is essential in the leaching process of copper, which involves extracting the metal from copper ore.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
Nickel and cobalt processing are also seeing higher costs because sulfur is used in high-pressure acid leaching.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
Audience trust is leaching away fast and Brits are increasingly refusing to pay up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
This unusual imbalance suggested that liquid water had once seeped through the rocks, effectively leaching lutetium out of them.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
Dad told Mom she needed to ask her mother for the money to fund the cyanide- leaching process he was developing.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
