seep

American  

[seep] / sip /

verb (used without object)

1. to pass, flow, or ooze gradually through a porous substance.

   Water seeps through cracks in the wall.

2. (of ideas, methods, etc.) to enter or be introduced at a slow pace.

   The new ideas finally seeped down to the lower echelons.

3. to become diffused; permeate.

   Fog seeped through the trees, obliterating everything.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to seep; filter.

   The vodka is seeped through charcoal to purify it.

noun

1. moisture that seeps out; seepage.

2. a small spring, pool, or other place where liquid from the ground has oozed to the surface of the earth.

seep British  

/ siːp /

verb

1. (intr) to pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings; ooze

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noun

1. a small spring or place where water, oil, etc, has oozed through the ground

2. another word for seepage

Etymology

Origin of seep

1780–90; perhaps variant of dial. sipe, itself perhaps continuing Old English sīpian (cognate with Middle Low German sīpen )

Explanation

Seep means to leak slowly. When you see the word, imagine water coming in through your sneakers on a rainy day. It's not a lot of water, but your feet still get pretty wet. The word seep is related to the Dutch word for ooze. Oil seeps from the earth and blood seeps from a wound. Seep falls somewhere between gush and drip on a scale of how liquid flows and suggests a liquid that is thick, and unwanted. In the figurative sense, some things that seep, like bad thoughts that seep into your mind, are also unwanted. But sometimes you wish that the flow would increase like when financial aid only seeps into a disaster zone.

Example Sentences

Laura Harnett, co-founder of Seep, a plastic-free cleaning supplies company that gained B Corp status in 2021, says the application process is not easy.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2023

Seep water was showing up as far as a mile from the river.

From Slate • Jun. 18, 2019

For that reason, I was appalled to read in Mark Thompson's story "The Gulf War Poisons Seep Out" that U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

Its way of going up that tree trunk reminded Peter of one of his winter friends, Seep Seep the Brown Creeper.

From The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)

Seep, sēp, v.i. to ooze gently: to trickle: to drain off.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Related Words

• bleed
• drain
• flow
• ooze
• percolate
• permeate
• soak
• trickle