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to leach into

to leach into

2 7.5
To slowly move into soil, water, or a person's mind when a liquid carries something there
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : filtrarse en
  • Allow time for the pigment to leach into the alcohol.
  • leach into groundwater
  • leach into water

And then you can just re mineralize it with compost, turn it over and then just and then just let it sit all season and let it kind of leach into the soil.

Examples

  • Antibiotics are problematic because at least seventy-five percent of antibiotics given to fish in fish food leach into the environment.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The heavy metals in the clay and glaze can leach into your beverages.

    Blog text (3)
  • Yes, burning batteries is bad, but burying them just allows the acid and metals to leach into the soil and drinking water.

    Blog text (20)
  • According to Robert Evans, an agricultural engineer at the Sidney lab, "Overwatering can cause chemicals to leach into groundwater."

    Academic text (2005)
  • Changes in the course of the Colville River and its tributaries, as well as erosion, have allowed contaminants to leach into the aquatic ecosystem.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The environmental and health effects can be immediate (such as an illness caused by exposure to toxins at a particular site) or long-term (such as when contaminated waste leaches into groundwater or soil and then works its way into the food chain).

    Academic text (1999)
  • There, soil-dwelling bacteria consume nitrate and other nutrients from excess fertilizer and manure that have leached into shallow groundwater.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The fly ash contains heavy metals, including lead and mercury, and chlorinated compounds that could leach into groundwater if the ash is interred in a landfill.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Rust Remedial Services Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., has developed stabilization technologies to physically or chemically make waste insoluble and therefore unable to leach into groundwater.

    Academic text (1995)
  • In some places, particularly the Southwest, arsenic leaches into the water from certain types of rock.

Synonyms

to seep into
vsto leach into
25 3.0

To move slowly through a surface into something

also means slowly becoming part of an area, situation, or thought
to infiltrate
vsto leach into
  • Specialized
16 7.3

To move slowly through a material like soil or walls

is less about filtration and more about slowly becoming part of something
to ooze through
vsto leach into
1 4.8

To flow slowly through small holes or cracks

is broader, also used for gradual joining beyond physical liquids

How Much

to saturate
55 5.2
to permeate
24 6.0
to leach into
2 7.5
to filter
138 3.0
to seep into
25 3.0

Surface Forms

leach into infinitive
leached into past participle
leaching into present participle
leaches into third person singular

Morphology

leach + into

The verb 'leach' denotes removal or movement of soluble material by percolating liquid, and the preposition 'into' signals movement or penetration. Together they form a straightforward compositional meaning — ‘to seep or flow into’ — that a B1 learner who knows both words can derive, so the phrase is transparent.

Etymology

Leach into comes from the image of water slowly leaching chemicals from soil and carrying them into the ground or nearby water, little by little. That's why leach into means 'to slowly seep or become part of' a place, situation, or someone's thoughts.