leaflet
Americannoun
-
leaflets
plural
-
a small flat or folded sheet of printed matter, as an advertisement or notice, usually intended for free distribution.
-
one of the separate blades or divisions of a compound leaf.
-
a small leaflike part or structure.
-
a small or young leaf.
verb (used with object)
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leaflets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leafletted,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
leafleted,
past participle
-
leafleting,
present participle
-
leafletting
present participle (especially British)
verb (used without object)
-
leaflets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leafletted,
past, past participle, past (especially British)
-
leafleted,
past participle
-
leafleting,
present participle
-
leafletting
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
a printed and usually folded sheet of paper for distribution, usually free and containing advertising material or information about a political party, charity, etc
-
any of the subdivisions of a compound leaf such as a fern leaf
-
(loosely) any small leaf or leaflike part
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leafletsimple
-
leafletssimple
-
have leafletedperfect
-
have leaflettedperfect
-
has leafletedperfect
-
has leaflettedperfect
-
am leafletingprogressive
-
am leaflettingprogressive
-
are leafletingprogressive
-
are leaflettingprogressive
-
is leafletingprogressive
-
is leaflettingprogressive
-
have been leafletingperfect progressive
-
have been leaflettingperfect progressive
-
has been leafletingperfect progressive
-
has been leaflettingperfect progressive
Past
-
leaflettedsimple
-
had leafletedperfect
-
had leaflettedperfect
-
was leafletingprogressive
-
was leaflettingprogressive
-
were leafletingprogressive
-
were leaflettingprogressive
-
had been leafletingperfect progressive
-
had been leaflettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leaflet
Explanation
A paper advertisement or a folded brochure is called a leaflet. To spread the word that your band is playing tonight, you could hand out leaflets. Most leaflets are free, part of their purpose being to attract an audience or customers, or to spread specific information or propaganda. You can also use this word to mean "small section of a leaf," particularly on a "compound leaf," which is made up of several leaflets, like the leaf of the ash tree. This botanical meaning is the original one — the "pamphlet" meaning arose in the 1800s, from leaf, or "page of a book."
Vocabulary lists containing leaflet
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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:
At the entrance to one registration office, a maternity health leaflet wishes newlyweds “a happy marriage and a speedy pregnancy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
It's worth checking the patient information leaflet for the full details.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
She wasn't warned about these side effects by doctors, but when she read about them in the leaflet, she says she was reassured to see them listed as being "uncommon".
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
"You go to the website of your council, you take a screenshot, you attach it to a leaflet then you write in big letters, whatever the main message is."
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
He then handed me a leaflet labeled Victory or Death.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Officers who have been handing out hundreds of leaflets to try to locate Lillia have now released new footage of her at a McDonald's restaurant in Piccadilly from Sunday at about 20:20 BST.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
"I will be in the city centre to hand out leaflets, answer questions, give directions, be a visible symbol of the volunteers, so people can approach me."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Rhode Island’s Morticia, named for the Addams Family matriarch, spent much of its life as a single leaf stalk with multiple leaflets before going dormant, leaving what looked like a big pot of dirt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
A civil protection officer handed out bottles of water and leaflets on how to behave in the extreme heat, standing in front of a 3,000-litre tanker feeding the mister and the crowds around it.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Afterward, Blanca stocked up on the religious cards, booklets, and leaflets she hands out every Saturday morning.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Outraged by the increase, the 65-year-old leafletted all houses on the estate and challenged the bill, eventually negotiating the lower fee for all 120 households.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2024
“They shouted obscenities, disparaged Heartbeat’s staff, volunteers, and supporters, and leafletted the venue with propaganda hoping to dissuade women from using Heartbeat’s services,” said the complaint.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
In the past, local pit villages and council estates have been leafleted to advertise the Baltic as a centre for everyone.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
They leafleted neighborhoods, black and white, with fliers meant to both intimidate and recruit.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 5, 2018
The musicians union said its members recently leafleted outside a desert location shoot in Pearblossom, Calif., calling upon the show's production company, Picrow, to recognize musicians' right to a labor contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2016
I often hear older people, those who marched, leafleted and shouted for justice in the ’60s, complain that Kids These Days are too complacent.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2014
Quayle campaign aides liked the series so much they leafleted reporters in New Hampshire who were covering the Bush-Quayle re-election effort, Kurtz reported.
From Slate ● Nov. 25, 2009
Sir Michael confirmed he would not seek re-election in future and said that aside from helping with leafleting, he had now turned his back on politics.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2025
The North’s balloon activities may deepen public calls in South Korea to stop anti-North Korean leafleting to avoid unnecessary clashes.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024
The school has been canvassing parents through leafleting and social media posts and is hoping to receive enough expressions of interest to make a primary school viable.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2024
The document includes detailed rundowns of union activities, such as leafleting conducted last year in five cities it says had “known” union-aligned employees, and a “marked increase in flyer distribution” early this year.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
It started leafleting Llantwit Major in February, soon after Vale of Glamorgan Council announced that temporary houses for refugees were going to be built on the site of a closed-down primary school.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2023
She hinted that balloons could become the North’s standard response to leafletting moving forward, saying that the North would respond by “scattering rubbish dozens of times more than those being scattered to us.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2024
Among other things, Tesla security guards repeatedly ordered union organizers to stop leafletting in Tesla’s parking lots and fired one union organizer for allegedly lying during a company investigation.
From The Verge ● Oct. 1, 2019
Volunteers started liking, sharing, leafletting, knocking on doors.
From The New Yorker ● May 27, 2019
Who will find the flyposting, the leafletting, the crowds on the Royal Mile and the endless procession of performers just a tad annoying.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2011
Choudary and some of his followers had advertised the event by leafletting for a week among the 20,000-strong Muslim population in the town, says Bunglawala, who has closely tracked Choudary's career.
From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2011
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.
