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)
-
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:
It's worth checking the patient information leaflet for the full details.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Where possible, graduates took questions after the presentation and the script refers to an accompanying leaflet, which the BBC has not seen.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
The imprint was missing from a leaflet containing an open letter by a pensioner who had switched her support from Labour to Reform UK.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Mui offers him a leaflet in case he wants more information, and the man refuses to take it.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2025
“Sir — I got a Ministry of Magic leaflet by owl, about security measures we should all take against the Death Eaters...”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Customs data from the Maldives shows a paltry amount of exports to Russia between 2022 and 2025—about $2,300 of tuna and $25 in leaflets and brochures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
"They're also checking whether you've got cushions on your sofa or how many leaflets you have."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 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
“She walked around those halls just putting her head into offices unannounced, picking up leaflets, starting conversations to find out what programs existed that could benefit her community,” Orleck explained.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
This time, the leaflets were written by their favorite professor, Kurt Huber.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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
They leafleted the neighbours trying to make them aware of what Mr Jammeh was accused of doing back home.
From BBC ● May 27, 2022
I have leafleted and phoned with other union members to ensure transit funding.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2022
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
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
According to Amnesty, the jihadists had been leafleting the two villages for the last five months.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
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 party is proud of its so-called "ground war" – the pavement pounding, door knocking and leafleting that goes on away from the cameras.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2024
But the accord doesn’t clearly state civilian leafleting should also be banned.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
In 2020, North Korea blew up an empty, South Korean-built liaison office on its territory in protest of South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024
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
His second concern is that the bill specifically prohibits someone from leafletting or talking to someone only about vaccines.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2021
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
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.
