percolate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause (a liquid) to pass through a porous body; filter.
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(of a liquid) to filter through; permeate.
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to brew (coffee) in a percolator.
verb (used without object)
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to pass through a porous substance; filter; ooze; seep; trickle.
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to become percolated.
The coffee is starting to percolate.
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to become active, lively, or spirited.
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to show activity, movement, or life; grow or spread gradually; germinate.
Interest in the idea has begun to percolate.
noun
verb
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to cause (a liquid) to pass through a fine mesh, porous substance, etc, or (of a liquid) to pass through a fine mesh, porous substance, etc; trickle
rain percolated through the roof
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to permeate; penetrate gradually
water percolated the road
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informal (intr) to become active or lively
she percolated with happiness
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to make (coffee) or (of coffee) to be made in a percolator
noun
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of percolate as , with an intrusive y -glide, results from analogy with words like circulate and matriculate, where the unstressed vowel following the k -sound is symbolized by a u spelling, making the y -glide mandatory. In similar words where is followed by some other vowel, the represents a hypercorrection. The pronunciation of escalate as is another such example. See coupon, new.
Other Word Forms
- percolable adjective
- percolation noun
- percolative adjective
- unpercolated adjective
Etymology
Origin of percolate
1620–30; < Latin percōlātus, past participle of percōlāre to filter. See per-, colander, -ate 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.
But other risks to stock-market stability continued to percolate.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026
As their attitudes percolate down, we could see job security supplant prices in the public’s hierarchy of anxiety.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
Production designer Craig Lathrop didn’t have a script at the time of that initial conversation, but ideas inspired by that romantic and gothic era began to percolate.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2025
“That will alleviate a lot of problems instead of having things percolate and blow up in your face.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2024
Resistance was beginning to percolate even in the rural areas.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
