- (intransitive) to pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings; ooze
- a small spring or place where water, oil, etc, has oozed through the ground
- another word for seepage
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
seep /sip/USA pronunciation
v. [no object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- to flow or ooze slowly, as through small openings.
seep
(sēp),USA pronunciation v.i.
v.t.
n.
- to pass, flow, or ooze gradually through a porous substance:Water seeps through cracks in the wall.
- (of ideas, methods, etc.) to enter or be introduced at a slow pace:The new ideas finally seeped down to the lower echelons.
- to become diffused;
permeate:Fog seeped through the trees, obliterating everything.
v.t.
- to cause to seep;
filter:The vodka is seeped through charcoal to purify it.
n.
- moisture that seeps out;
seepage. - a small spring, pool, or other place where liquid from the ground has oozed to the surface of the earth.
- perh. variant of dialect, dialectal sipe, itself perh. continuing Old English sīpian (cognate with Middle Low German sīpen) 1780–90
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
seep /siːp/ vb