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 )

Example Sentences

The cold from the metal bar seeps through the tape wrapped around it.

From Literature

November seeps into December and people replace their gourds and pumpkins with Santa hats and snowmen.

From Literature

The scramble for oil from the Gulf is starting to seep into broader international oil markets.

From The Wall Street Journal

It becomes the dish’s first layer of seasoning — not something added at the end, but something that seeps outward.

From Salon

Rising costs for fertilizer, feed, packaging and shipping are going to seep into the prices that people see on grocery shelves, experts say.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

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