Home US English seep

Definition of seep in English:

seep

Pronunciation /sēp/ /sip/

See synonyms for seep

Translate seep into Spanish

verb

no object, with adverbial of direction

  • (of a liquid) flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes.

    ‘water began to seep through the soles of his boots’
    • ‘Water seeped into deep holes he dug, enough to quench thirst for another few days.’
    • ‘Oil has seeped into the water table, and air pollution is a serious problem.’
    • ‘When you remove the ring after completing the layering you'll have a pretty pool of green oil seeping out from the edge.’
    • ‘A popular tourist attraction at Mistley has been damaged by water seeping into the walls.’
    • ‘The water seeped into the main bar area, covering about a 10 metre square space.’
    • ‘Her television and video exploded last week as water seeped into the house.’
    • ‘Water seeped from ruptured pipes and corrugated iron dangled from the roofs of the damaged shops.’
    • ‘Water seeped into her knee-high boots, and completely soaked her socks.’
    • ‘He knew he was bleeding by the wetness seeping down his leg, but he lacked the will to check out his injury.’
    • ‘Water is said to be seeping into the basement and the foundation may well be threatened.’
    • ‘I have lived in rented accommodation where we welcomed the rain seeping through the ceiling because it discouraged the rats.’
    • ‘Blood was slowly seeping out of his body.’
    • ‘Lee got irritated as she saw blood seeping out of a gash on her hand.’
    • ‘Water was seeping through the crack in the windshield.’
    • ‘As the mist seeped back into the ground, the rest of the house slowly returned to normal.’
    • ‘Water seeping into exposed pores allows for frost action.’
    • ‘He couldn't even sense the cold and wetness seeping through his clothes.’
    • ‘He later realised liquid was seeping from her mouth, and called an ambulance at about 3pm.’
    • ‘There was a large area of pinkish wet seeping through the bandage.’
    • ‘Blood had seeped through the makeshift bandage, soaking it through.’
    ooze, trickle, exude, drip, dribble, flow, issue, discharge, excrete, escape, leak, drain, bleed, sweat, well, leach, filter, percolate, permeate, soak
    View synonyms

noun

North American

  • A place where petroleum or water oozes slowly out of the ground.

    ‘The stable isotope composition of the first and second stages of the worm tube carbonates is similar to that of carbonates from modern petroleum seeps.’
    • ‘Some creeks or river reaches are fed by springs or groundwater seeps.’
    • ‘They breed in alpine areas, near seeps, streams, lakes, or wet meadows.’
    • ‘There was evidence of intermittent spring seeps and seasonal streams nearby.’
    • ‘As you drive west toward the coast, seeps and springs in the ravines form small braided waterfalls, full of their own monsoon song.’
    • ‘A lone cottonwood on the plains might mark a hillside seep or a spot where the water table was within digging distance.’
    • ‘Underwater seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel and Santa Monica Bay have deposited tar over area beaches.’
    • ‘On the continents seeps create brine pools, mud volcanoes and other local features.’
    • ‘Subterranean species are difficult to monitor since they appear seasonally and sporadically in seeps and springs or may not appear even during high water flows.’
    • ‘In seeps where the water supply is low, burros can consume the entire amounts.’
    • ‘Crystal Bench is a wet meadow below a series of small seeps feeding an intermittent stream that is usually dry by August.’
    • ‘The valley's boggy areas, seeps, and ponderosa-pine forests are home to more than 500 kinds of plants.’
    • ‘So far the oil from the birds has matched, but that oil has not matched any known natural seeps or other reported incidents.’
    • ‘Indeed, nearly all oil in seawater traces to natural seeps or to human activities creating diffuse releases.’
    • ‘The wetlands, its seeps and its marshes are jealousy maintained and protected from all disturbance.’
    • ‘Natural hydrocarbon seeps are another local pollution hazard.’

Origin

Late 18th century perhaps a dialect form of Old English sīpian ‘to soak’.