verb / noun

seep

SEEP/siːp/

To pass slowly through small gaps.

Water seeps through the clay vessel's hairline crack and forms a tiny puddle.

Water slowly seeps through a hairline crack near the bottom of a plain clay vessel, darkening the clay and collecting in a tiny puddle beneath it.

Etymology

The earlier verb sipe described gentle oozing through pores. Seep retains that image of gradual passage through tiny openings, rather than movement in a freely flowing stream.

In context

TVUP49:23

that will lead to local symptoms of swelling pain and redness but in some patients these reactions can seep or pass through the blood vessels

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More examples

Water seeped into my boots as I crossed the marsh.
Cold air is seeping through gaps around the window.
A muddy seep marks where groundwater slowly emerges on the hillside.

Forms

seep · seeps · seeped · seeping

seepage noun — The slow passage of liquid through gaps.

Similar words

ooze: Often suggests thick liquid moving slowly through an opening.
leak: Emphasizes unintended escape through a hole or faulty seal.
trickle: Describes a thin, slow stream, not necessarily through gaps.