leak
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.
a disclosure of secret, especially official, information, as to the news media, by an unnamed source.
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.
to become known unintentionally (usually followed by out): The news leaked out.
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.
to let (liquid, gas, light, etc.) enter or escape: This camera leaks light.
to allow to become known, as information given out covertly: to leak the news of the ambassador's visit.
Idioms about leak
take a leak, Slang: Vulgar. to urinate.
Origin of leak
1Other words from leak
- leaker, noun
- leakless, adjective
- non·leak·ing, adjective
Words that may be confused with leak
- leak , leek
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use leak in a sentence
What humans choose to do with this shapeless primordial stuff leaking through the cracks can often be almost comical.
We can hope that it begins to fade, just as the air seems to finally be leaking out of Black Friday.
CIA agents present were polygraphed repeatedly in an effort to determine if any of them were leaking to the media.
Congress Debunks Congress’s Nuttiest Benghazi Theories | Ben Jacobs | November 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBy September 2013, rumors were leaking online that TRN was allegedly refusing to pay its talent.
This is just the latest example of contradictory and unsubstantiated information from unnamed sources leaking from Kuala Lumpur.
Never since I was a little runt—did I—never cried in thirty years—and here I am-leaking like a pail!
You Never Know Your Luck, Complete | Gilbert ParkerShe looked all about; the whole face of nature looked back, brimful of meaning, finger on lip, leaking its glad secret.
English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) WebsterHalf a dozen words from you would caulk up the leaking hull of your friendship.
Cursed | George Allan EnglandDay found them stumbling down the Jersey coast, the foredeck a mass of wreckage and the ship leaking badly.
The Onslaught from Rigel | Fletcher PrattWe were out in a skiff yesterday and the little boat got to leaking so badly that we both of us had to stay in the water.
The Go Ahead Boys on Smugglers' Island | Ross Kay
British Dictionary definitions for leak
/ (liːk) /
a crack, hole, etc, that allows the accidental escape or entrance of fluid, light, etc
such escaping or entering fluid, light, etc
spring a leak to develop a leak
something resembling this in effect: a leak in the defence system
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
to enter or escape or allow to enter or escape through a crack, hole, etc
(when intr, often foll by out) to disclose (secret information), often intentionally, or (of secret information) to be disclosed
(intr) a slang word for urinate
Origin of leak
1Derived forms of leak
- leaker, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse