noun
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the act or process of seeping
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liquid or moisture that has seeped
Etymology
Origin of seepage
Explanation
When liquid or gas slowly leaks through tiny holes or gaps in a container or barrier, it's called seepage. The seepage of rain water through the foundation of your house can result in a very damp basement. Seepage is the process of something seeping, or leaking extremely slowly. You usually can't see seepage happening, the way you'd observe a leak from a faucet. Water seepage from an upstairs bathroom can gradually stain the ceiling of the room below, and the seepage of gas from your stove can be very dangerous to breathe. We can trace this word back to a root meaning "to pour out, drip, or trickle."
Vocabulary lists containing seepage
The Water Cycle - Introductory
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Earth Science - Middle School
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The Water Cycle - Middle School and 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.
Seepage of the super-pollutants is pervasive at many U.S. grocery stores, where networks of chiller pipes leak the invisible gases.
From Washington Post • Sep. 23, 2021
Seepage, freshwater springs, and plant uptake return some of this water to the surface.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
Seepage is a common issue with an earthen levee system.
From BusinessWeek • Jun. 9, 2011
Seepage has rotted away the wooden beams supporting the parqueted floors, loosened the gold and plaster ceilings which are nailed precariously to deteriorating laths.
From Time Magazine Archive
Seepage back and forth between the streams, gives the moisture necessary for such growth—year round.
From Son of Power by Comfort, Will Levington
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.
