leaching
Americannoun
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the dissolution or removal of substances out of soil, ashes, or the like by a process of percolation.
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an instance of such dissolution, or a substance removed in this way.
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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.
The chemical is essential in the leaching process of copper, which involves extracting the metal from copper ore.
From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026
Plastic cigarette filters are the world's most littered item, leaching toxic chemicals into the environment and breaking down into microplastics -- while doing very little for the smoker, the secretariat said.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
That makes them significantly better at leaching copper from ore than conventional methods using acids, which often only capture up to half of the metal contained in the rock, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 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
Dressed in shabby pants, with sweat already leaching through the armpits of my white cotton shirt, I felt out of place amid the neighborhood’s neatly manicured lawns and lavish estates.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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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.