leak

/liːk/

leak noun: a crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.

Noun

leak (plural leaks)

A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
- a leak in a roof
- a leak in a boat
The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.
- The leak gained on the ship's pumps.
- The babies' diapers had big leaks.
A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.
- The leaks by Chelsea Manning showed the secrets of the US military.
The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.
- […] so even if he was the leak, we would never know.2015, Leena Ching, Scandalous, Purple Diamond Publishing
- I was the leak. That the government didn't like our advice, and so I decided to leak it to 'bounce' them into having to follow it.2024, Tony Holohan, We Need to Talk: A Memoir
A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation, or the point where it occurs.
The gradual loss of a system resource caused by failure to deallocate previously reserved portions.
- resource leak
- memory leak
(especially, mildly, slang, vulgar) An act of urination.
- I have to take a leak.

Verb

leak (third-person singular simple present leaks, present participle leaking, simple past and past participle leaked)

(transitive) To allow fluid or gas to pass through an opening that should be sealed.
- The wells are believed to have been leaking oil for decades, long after the operating company ceased to exist.
(intransitive) (of a fluid or gas) To pass through an opening that should be sealed.
- The faucet has been leaking since last month.
- No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.
(ambitransitive) To disclose secret information surreptitiously or anonymously.
- Someone must have leaked it to our competitors that the new product will be out soon.
- That's another of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential press briefings; you leak; he's being charged under section 2(A) of the Official Secrets Act.1987, “Man Overboard”, in Yes, Prime Minister, spoken by Bernard Wooley (Derek Fowlds)
(broadly, figuratively, intransitive) To pass through when it would normally or preferably be blocked.
- A target that is not detected would not be intercepted and thus would leak through the single defensive layer.1989, Kenneth N. Luongo, W. Thomas Wander, The Search for Security in Space, page 149
(broadly, figuratively, transitive) To allow anything through that would normally or preferably be blocked.
- England were leaking penalties as Scotland played with pace and variety. Russell was starting to find his range and when he threaded through a grubber to Sean Maitland the winger did well to gather and keep the ball in play. Unfortunately, his pass inside just eluded Russell.2021 February 6, Graham Bean, “Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years”, in The Scotsman
(euphemistic, slang, sometimes) To urinate.
- I had to leak in the woods since there were no toilets around.
- Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms:

break the seal, hit the head, micturate, pass water, pee, piddle, piss, slash, take a leak, take a piss
(US, slang) To bleed.
- He shanked him, now he's leaking.
(slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.

Adjective

leak (comparative more leak, superlative most leak)

(obsolete) Leaky.
- Yet is the bottle leake, and bag so torne, / That all which I put in fals out anon […].1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Proper noun capitalized: Leak

Leak (plural Leaks)

A surname.

leak meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

leak in Hindi

crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape: रिसाव risāv
entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture: रिसाव risāv
(of a container) to allow fluid to escape or enter: रिसना risnā
(of a fluid or gas) to pass through an opening that should be sealed: रिसाव risāv

leak in Tamil

(of a fluid or gas) to pass through an opening that should be sealed: ஒழுகு oḻuku

leak in Marathi

to leak, drip, dribble: गळणे gaḷṇe

leak in Urdu

چونا, فاش ہونا, رسنا, ٹپکنا

More languagesFewer languages

leak in Bengali: ছিদ্র, চুইয়ে পড়া, তথ্য ফাঁস
leak in Telugu: కురియు kuriyu
leak in Malayalam: ചോരുക cōruka, ചോർത്തുക cōṟttuka
leak in Kannada: ಒಡಕು, ಬಿರುಕು, ಸಂದು, ತೂತು
leak in Odia: ଝରିବା jharibā
leak in Sanskrit: स्रवति srávati, स्रु sru, धारा dhā́rā
leak in Tagalog: lagatak
leak in Arabic: تَسَرُّب tasarrub, تَسْرِيب tasrīb, تَسَرَّبَ tasarraba, سَرَّبَ sarraba
leak in Malay: bocor
leak in Indonesian: bocor
leak in Persian: نشت našt
leak in Thai: รั่ว rûua
leak in Vietnamese: làm rò rỉ, tiết lộ

Examples of leak in a sentence

a leak in a gas pipe
If he was the leak, it wasn't intentional.2024, MarcyKate Connolly, Kathryn Holmes, The Thirteenth Circle:
I just leak against a^([sic]) oak over there.1965, Sam Selvon, The Housing Lark, Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, published 1990, page 125:

All 40 example sentences with leak

Synonyms of leak

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of leak

Forms of leak

Noun
plural	leaks
Verb
third-person singular present	leaks
present participle	leaking
past participle	leaked
past	leaked
Adjective
comparative	more leak
superlative	most leak
Proper noun
plural	Leaks

Past tense of leak: leaked

Plural of leak: leaks

Origin of leak

From Middle English leken (“to let water in or out”), from Old English *lecan (“to leak”), Middle Dutch leken (“to leak, drip”) or Old Norse leka (“to leak, drip”); all from Proto-Germanic *lekaną (“to leak, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak”). Cognate with Dutch lekken (“to leak”), German lechen, lecken (“to leak”), Danish lække (“to leak”), Swedish läcka (“to leak”), Norwegian Bokmål lekke (“to leak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk leka (“to leak”). Related also to Old English leċċan (“to water, wet”), Albanian lag, lak (“to damp, make wet”). See also leach, lake. (divulgation, disclosure of information): Compare typologically Bulgarian изтичане (iztičane), Polish przeciek, Russian уте́чка (utéčka) (akin to течь impf or f (tečʹ)).

Words formed from leak

Words that rhyme with leak

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about leak

What does leak mean?: Leak means a crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
What is leak in Hindi?: Leak in Hindi is रिसाव (risāv), रिसना (risnā). See Leak meaning in Hindi.
How do you use leak in a sentence?: a leak in a gas pipe
What part of speech is leak?: Leak can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce leak?: Leak is pronounced /liːk/.
What is the plural of leak?: The plural of leak is leaks.

Words near leak in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-leak.ogg.

Cite this entry: “leak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.