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Glite Dictionary
🕵️ To enter secretly 💧 To pass through
to infiltrate

to infiltrate

16 7.3
To move slowly through a material like soil or walls
  • verb
  • /ˈɪnfɪlˌtreɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : infiltrar
  • And so I always bring back ideas that infiltrate my kitchen every time we come back from Rome.
  • tumor infiltrated
  • infiltrated tissue
  • infiltrating carcinoma

There's no doubt that aliens have somehow infiltrated our ecosystem.

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Examples

  • Rain can easily infiltrate through cracks in the pavement over time.

  • Liberation from the thoughts and feelings that perpetually infiltrate our mind requires us to deal with them directly.

    Rich Roll

  • So this water, when it lands on soil, can infiltrate the soil.

  • But this notion has infiltrated a lot of people in the military.

    I've Had It

  • And automation is also sort of infiltrating more and more jobs in unpredictable ways.

    Aeon Video

  • I hear some of those Easy Alpha girls have infiltrated the Sorority Council.

    So Undercover (2012)

  • Water enters the subsurface directly through the soil and infiltrates into the chambers.

    Academic text (2002)

  • In 1956, sewage water infiltrated many wells, forcing the government to accelerate the groundwater pumping rate.

    Academic text (2015)

  • The mass had eroded the lamina papyracea and infiltrated the medial rectus muscle.

    Academic text (2006)

  • A spill at the plant increased the phosphates in the lake… …and produced a scum of algae so thick that the swamp smell filled the air… …infiltrating the genteel mansions.

    The Virgin Suicides (2000)

Synonyms

to come through
vsto infiltrate
49 3.8

To move through something from one side to the other

enters little by little through material rather than simply crossing it
to penetrate
vsto infiltrate
44 5.0

Spread through something and reach all parts, like a strong smell

moves in slowly by filtering rather than by forceful wide entry
to seep into
vsto infiltrate
25 3.0

To move slowly through a surface into something

is about entering by filtering rather than by simple leakage
to permeate
vsto infiltrate
24 6.0

To spread through something and reach every part

enters gradually through material rather than immediately filling every part

Antonyms

to exfiltrate
  • Specialized
1 9.9

To secretly move people or things out of an area controlled by enemies

How Deep

to saturate
55 5.2
to permeate
24 6.0
to infiltrate
  • Specialized
16 7.3
to seep
82 2.7
to dampen
4 3.4

Surface Forms

infiltrate infinitive
infiltrated past
infiltrated past participle
infiltrating present participle
infiltrates third person singular

Morphology

infiltrate = filtrate (semi-transparent) = in + filtr + ate

If a learner knows the verb 'filtrate', adding 'in-' gives the literal sense of passing into something by filtering.

Etymology

Infiltrate comes from the parts in- 'into' and a word like filter 'to pass through', so it paints a picture of something slowly moving into or through a material, like water soaking into soil.