leak
Americannoun
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an unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc., enters or escapes.
a leak in the roof.
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an act or instance of leaking.
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any means of unintended entrance or escape.
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Electricity. the loss of current from a conductor, usually resulting from poor insulation.
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a disclosure of secret, especially official, information, as to the news media, by an unnamed source.
verb (used without object)
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to let a liquid, gas, light, etc., enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or crack.
The boat leaks.
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to pass in or out in this manner, as liquid, gas, or light.
gas leaking from a pipe.
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to become known unintentionally (usually followed byout ).
The news leaked out.
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to disclose secret, especially official, information anonymously, as to the news media.
The official revealed that he had leaked to the press in the hope of saving his own reputation.
verb (used with object)
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to let (liquid, gas, light, etc.) enter or escape.
This camera leaks light.
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to allow to become known, as information given out covertly.
to leak the news of the ambassador's visit.
idioms
noun
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a crack, hole, etc, that allows the accidental escape or entrance of fluid, light, etc
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such escaping or entering fluid, light, etc
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to develop a leak
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something resembling this in effect
a leak in the defence system
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the loss of current from an electrical conductor because of faulty insulation, etc
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a disclosure, often intentional, of secret information
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the act or an instance of leaking
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a slang word for urination See urination
verb
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to enter or escape or allow to enter or escape through a crack, hole, etc
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to disclose (secret information), often intentionally, or (of secret information) to be disclosed
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(intr) a slang word for urinate
Other Word Forms
- leaker noun
- leakless adjective
- nonleaking adjective
Etymology
Origin of leak
1375–1425; 1955–60 leak for def. 11; late Middle English leken < Old Norse leka to drip, leak; akin to Dutch lek, obsolete German lech leaky. See leach 1
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.
Mythos is the latest generation of Anthropic's Claude family of AI, and a recent leak of some of its code prompted the startup to release a blog post warning it posed unprecedented cybersecurity risks.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
The leak is a blow for Anthropic because it risks both undermining its reputation for safety and also revealing valuable trade secrets in the pitched battle for enterprise customers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
He said he was on the sofa watching rugby and saw the players "falling off the screen", so headed to the hospital where doctors told him he had a brain aneurysm "that started to leak".
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
Surfshark includes a reliable kill switch that blocks traffic if the VPN disconnects, and, like NordVPN, it uses RAM-only servers and offers DNS leak protection.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026
“Based on what little we know, Ren’s being questioned by the police right now. I don’t buy the gas leak story.”
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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.
