leak
Americannoun
-
leaks
plural
-
an unintended hole, crack, or the like, through which liquid, gas, light, etc., enters or escapes.
a leak in the roof.
-
an act or instance of leaking.
-
any means of unintended entrance or escape.
-
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)
-
leaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leaked,
past participle, past
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leaking
present participle
-
to let a liquid, gas, light, etc., enter or escape, as through an unintended hole or crack.
The boat leaks.
-
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)
-
leaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leaked,
past participle, past
-
leaking
present participle
-
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
-
-
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
-
-
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
-
a disclosure, often intentional, of secret information
-
the act or an instance of leaking
-
a slang word for urination See urination
verb
-
to enter or escape or allow to enter or escape through a crack, hole, etc
-
to disclose (secret information), often intentionally, or (of secret information) to be disclosed
-
(intr) a slang word for urinate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leaksimple
-
leakssimple
-
have leakedperfect
-
has leakedperfect
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am leakingprogressive
-
are leakingprogressive
-
is leakingprogressive
-
have been leakingperfect progressive
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has been leakingperfect progressive
Past
-
leakedsimple
-
had leakedperfect
-
was leakingprogressive
-
were leakingprogressive
-
had been leakingperfect progressive
Future
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
Explanation
A leak involves the release of something. It can be a behind-someone’s-back leak of sensitive information, a leak from a milk carton, or a leak in the roof that lets rain water drip in. As a verb, leak means to allow light or fluid to escape, or to enter or escape as though through a hole. Light can leak in through the curtains, water can leak out of an almost-closed faucet, or information can leak to the press. A leak is almost always a bad thing — it indicates that something that should be contained has broken out or escaped.
Vocabulary lists containing leak
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 6
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
If audiences already know the intimate details of how a very real public leak, whistle-blow, or scandal came together, what’s left for them to learn by fictionalizing it all?
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
Police have said five people have been hospitalised following the incident that was “strongly suspected” to be the result of a gas leak, and no suspicious substances or explosives have been found at the site.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Soviet authorities famously denied a leak of anthrax spores in 1979, blaming tainted meat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Even extremely small vibrations or pointing errors could allow unwanted starlight to leak into an image and overwhelm the much dimmer planets scientists hope to detect.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Nhamo was sorry to lose the boat, but it had begun to leak badly again.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Even after discovering the leaks, the military continued to use the vehicles until the end of the exercise due to a lack of alternatives and the soldiers deleted the videos, DN reported.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
Rapid hiring and employees’ frequent moves between rival firms have made leaks and theft harder to guard against.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The movie isn’t so much about the Facebook leaks as it is about an era when bone-chilling data revealing a company’s malevolence isn’t enough to stop evil machinations in their tracks.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
They include gas leaks, spraying substances to cover the smell of fumes and failing to properly maintain idle wells, among others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
My dream sort of leaks out like water in a paper bag.
From "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
But a Times review of the leaked files found a 2005 student psychological assessment, despite district denials that such records had leaked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
You’ll probably learn about it through leaked audio soon.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2026
Steinbrenner paid Spira $40,000 for information on Mr. Winfield and then leaked it to the press in an attempt to sabotage the ballplayer’s career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The film focuses on the investigation that led to "The Facebook Files," a trove of statements and data leaked in 2021.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Then there was a mad scramble to shift furniture and get pans and bowls and buckets in all the places where the roof leaked.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
In 2024, a humorous video went viral on Tiktok, featuring students and teachers at one high school in Seine-Saint-Denis complaining of rundown facilities, including leaking ceilings and a lack of chairs.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
He also had to fix a leaking roof.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Then, over the weekend, the brand found itself in a messy situation: At its Beijing event, the winner lost control of her bowels midrace and completed the challenges while diarrhea was leaking down her legs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Chelsea are free-scoring and their front-line is so dynamic - but they are leaking goals left, right and centre and they are a bit of a rabble at the back.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
They must be leaking from my ears, all those thoughts and questions and fears.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
