soak
Americanverb (used without object)
-
soaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
soaked,
past participle, past
-
soaking
present participle
-
to lie in and become saturated or permeated with water or some other liquid.
-
to pass, as a liquid, through pores, holes, or the like.
The rain soaked through the tear in the umbrella.
- Synonyms:
- seep
-
to be thoroughly wet.
Her shoes and socks were soaking and her feet were freezing.
-
to penetrate or become known to the mind or feelings (followed byin ).
The lesson didn't soak in.
- Synonyms:
- seep
-
Informal. to drink immoderately, especially alcoholic beverages.
They were soaking at the bar.
verb (used with object)
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soaks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
soaked,
past participle, past
-
soaking
present participle
-
to place or keep in liquid in order to saturate thoroughly; steep.
-
to wet thoroughly; saturate or drench.
- Antonyms:
- dry
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to permeate thoroughly, as liquid or moisture does.
-
Metallurgy. to heat (a piece) for reworking.
-
Informal. to intoxicate (oneself ) by drinking an excess of liquor.
-
Slang. to beat hard; punish severely.
I was soaked for that mistake.
-
to extract or remove by or as by soaking (often followed byout ).
to soak a stain out of a napkin.
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Slang. to overcharge.
He was soaked by the waiter.
noun
-
soaks
plural
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the act or state of soaking or the state of being soaked.
-
the liquid in which anything is soaked.
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Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a habitual drinker of alcohol who is frequently intoxicated; a heavy drinker.
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Australian. any small area of land, as near a spring or at the foot of a hill, that becomes swamplike or holds water after a period of heavy rain.
verb phrase
verb
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to make, become, or be thoroughly wet or saturated, esp by immersion in a liquid
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(of a liquid) to penetrate or permeate
-
(tr; usually foll by in or up) (of a permeable solid) to take in (a liquid) by absorption
the earth soaks up rainwater
-
(tr; foll by out or out of) to remove by immersion in a liquid
she soaked the stains out of the dress
-
(tr) metallurgy to heat (a metal) prior to working
-
informal to drink excessively or make or become drunk
-
slang (tr) to overcharge
-
slang (tr) to put in pawn
noun
-
the act of immersing in a liquid or the period of immersion
-
the liquid in which something may be soaked, esp a solution containing detergent
-
another name for soakage
-
informal a heavy rainfall
-
slang a person who drinks to excess
Synonym Usage
See wet.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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soakernoun
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soakingnoun
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oversoakverb
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resoakverb
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unsoakedadjective
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well-soakedadjective
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soakinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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soaksimple
-
soakssimple
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have soakedperfect
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has soakedperfect
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am soakingprogressive
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are soakingprogressive
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is soakingprogressive
-
have been soakingperfect progressive
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has been soakingperfect progressive
Past
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soakedsimple
-
had soakedperfect
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was soakingprogressive
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were soakingprogressive
-
had been soakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of soak
First recorded before 1000; Middle English soken, Old English sōcian; akin to suck
Explanation
To soak something is to submerge it into water. Before you cook dry beans, you soak them overnight first. If you’re not a bean, you can also soak up a cool experience by immersing yourself in it. You can soak your dirty laundry in soapy water, or soak rice before you cook it, and you can also soak in a bubble bath. When you do this, you give these things (including yourself) a soak. Informally, the verb also means "immerse in an activity or experience," like when you soak up the applause after your masterful violin performance.
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:
Locals share where to eat, soak, hike and raft in one of the West’s least crowded wine regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
"We rely on wetlands to soak up excess rainwater. And they're management systems, really. So they need looking after and protecting," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
I had not dirtied anything requiring an overnight soak.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
I love places where you can sit for a while, people-watch and soak up the city’s energy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
She put the crushed maize into a clay pot with water to soak overnight.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Amazingly, the researchers found that hospital administration — not the doctors or the medical care, but the administration — soaks up 1.43% of U.S. gross domestic product.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
Battery storage soaks up excess electricity during sunny and windy days and releases the juice later when it is needed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
She really soaks up a vibe that you would never have access to.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
Anything that adds ballast and soaks up the warm bits without overpowering them earns a spot here.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
She soaks her feet in balms of herb water, plays cards past midnight, eats oranges under a full moon.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
While October has seen a return to wetter conditions, early rainfall tends to be soaked up by soil or runs off hardened ground and hasn't therefore had a significant impact to our reservoirs.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
As frontier AI labs soaked up the available compute, cloud providers moved to require multiyear contracts with upfront costs often as high as 30%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Kosin and his family lifted their belongings once they saw the water level was higher than the canal retaining wall, but their ground floor was still left soaked.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
He says on the doorstep, voters are telling him "they're fed up with the crime, disorder. This borough is crime-ridden. It's soaked in crime."
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
By the time we found shelter under a building’s eaves, my clothes were soaked through.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Earlier studies of sediments from Shanidar Cave found evidence that Neanderthals were soaking plant foods before cooking them around this period.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
Many have blamed this flood of supply for soaking up liquidity and siphoning capital away from existing publicly traded companies.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The second sector stayed dry while the first sector, particularly Turns Two and Three, were soaking wet with standing water.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Other highlights include an open, corner living and dining room, walls of windows, a chef’s kitchen, and a main bedroom with a formal dressing area and an en suite bathroom with a soaking tub.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The icy water moved up the cloth, soaking it.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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