to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
to cause (water or other liquid) to percolate through something.
(of ashes, soil, etc.) to undergo the action of percolating water.
to percolate, as water.
the act or process of leaching.
a product or solution obtained by leaching; leachate.
the material leached.
a vessel for use in leaching.
the act or process of leaching
a substance that is leached or the constituents removed by leaching
a porous vessel for leaching
1425–75; late Middle English leche leachate, infusion, probably Old English *læc ( e ), *lec ( e ), akin to leccan to wet, moisten, causative of leak
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
It had the right type of rock, a heap leach pad and solvent-extraction electrowinning plant, where the copper dripping in solution from the ore is plated on cathodes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025
They found the most heavily contaminated nurdles were those burnt in the fire, which leach metals toxic to aquatic life, like arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, cobalt and nickel.
From BBC • Jul. 27, 2025
The nets were designed to leach condensation out of the cool night air, and were an important supplementary source of water in the Elmuthaleth.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
