How do you use the word "leak" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "leak" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "leak": The rain was dripping through a leak in the roof. The explosion may have been caused by a gas leak.

Leak Meaning

/liːk/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.

nounThe entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.

Sentence Examples

The rain was dripping through a leak in the roof.

The explosion may have been caused by a gas leak.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The old water pipe began to ____, so water dripped onto the floor.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The plumber was called to fix a small ____ in the water pipe under the kitchen sink earlier this morning.

Word Origin & History

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)).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[…] 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:

"If he was the leak, it wasn't intentional. The same went for her mom, not that Cat thought her mom had any friends with top-level security clearance." — 2024, MarcyKate Connolly, Kathryn Holmes, The Thirteenth Circle:

"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):

"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:

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