SEEP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does seep mean? 

• SEEP (verb)
  The verb SEEP has 1 sense:

1. pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings

  Familiarity information: SEEP used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEEP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they seep    ... he / she / it seeps   
Past simple: seeped   
Past participle: seeped   
-ing form: seeping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

ooze; seep

Hypernyms (to "seep" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

seepage (the process of seeping)

 Context examples 

However, such seeps are today, and probably always were, minor resources.

(Scientists report correlation between locations of Easter Island statues and water resources, Wikinews)

In the deep ocean, the ridge acts like a convection cell — water seeps into cracks and fissures on either side and is heated as it gets closer to the center.

(Microbes in underground aquifers beneath deep-sea Mid-Atlantic Ridge 'chow down' on carbon, National Science Foundation)

The sweat then seeps into the epidermis, producing pruritic erythematous papulovesicles.

(Miliaria, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The sowing and harvesting of water is the managed process by which human beings intentionally channel water to seep via the subsoil (sowing) so that it can be collected (harvested) at some point in the future.

(Researchers demonstrate that Sierra Nevada is home to the oldest underground water recharge system in Europe, University of Granada)

They provide new information about the way liquid methane rains on, evaporates from and seeps into Titan - the only planetary body in our solar system other than Earth known to have stable liquid on its surface.

(Cassini Reveals Surprises with Titan's Lakes, NASA)

Dark features on Mars previously considered evidence for subsurface flowing of water are interpreted by new research as granular flows, where grains of sand and dust slip downhill to make dark streaks, rather than the ground being darkened by seeping water.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)

Only the tiniest sample needs to be provided, which seeps by capillary action from the sampling area to the recognition area, where a particular colour will appear, depending on the concentration of the compound being analysed.

(Scientists design devices to calculate the concentration of potassium in water, of creatinine in urine, or glucose in blood using smartphone technology, University of Granada)

The new model indicated these minute traces of oxygen should be able to enter salty seeps of water on or near the planet's surface at levels high enough to support life forms comparable to Earth's microbes, possibly even simple sponges.

(Simple animals could live in Martian brines, Wikinews)

Inflammation occurs when the body’s defensive mechanism kicks in to ward off infection or disease, but this mechanism can turn against itself when triggered, for instance, by excess low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) that seep into the lining of the arteries.

(Study links psoriasis treatment and improvement in heart artery disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Inflammation occurs when the body’s defensive mechanism kicks in to ward off infection or disease, but this mechanism can turn against itself when triggered, for instance, by excess low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) that seep into the lining of the arteries.

(Psoriasis therapy linked to reduced coronary inflammation in patients with the skin condition, National Institutes of Health)