as in parasite
a person who is supported by or seeks support from another without making an adequate return
whenever the gang went out for pizza, the leech in the group always had an excuse for not paying his fair share
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of leech
Adam Summers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Oct. 2025
Tatum and Bullock have spoken about filming the leech scene together before.
—Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Heather there in her glittering vintage dress while the raining confetti mixes with the snow around them, leeching into it, dying it colors.
—Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for leech
Noun
Like a parasite, the goal seems to be to walk a fine line to leech off of business owners without completely killing the host.
—Adam Summers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Oct. 2025
Tatum and Bullock have spoken about filming the leech scene together before.
—Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
Verb
Then there’s the plume of arsenic that’s been detected in the groundwater in recent years, which advocates say is leeching out of the area that was once the mine.
—Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Heather there in her glittering vintage dress while the raining confetti mixes with the snow around them, leeching into it, dying it colors.
—Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for leech
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leech
Noun
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Sette is considered an expert on human T cells, the immune cells that adapt to recognize and fight infections from viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens.—
Noah Lyons,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Jan. 2026
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Brandi Glanville continues to take fans along on her battle against an aggressive facial parasite, with the latest development looking good for the reality TV star.—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Give a final clean water wipe down with your cloth or sponge to remove any cleaning residue.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
30 Jan. 2026
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In the collision of spice, sharpness and seedy crunch, and in the sponging way potatoes soak up butter, the intensity never seems like too much.—
Bill Addison,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Scientists tracking humpbacks off the coast of Australia have captured rare footage that shows clutches of the freeloading fish peeling away from their host in what looks like a high-speed game of chicken, just moments before the whale breaches.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
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The specter of freeloading corporations using more space, water, and energy for AI processing has defined the race for the 30th House of Delegates district, well outside DC.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
13 Oct. 2025
Verb
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On top of that, Nico is also, quite obviously, just mooching off/clinging to Mindy because he got cut off by his family.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
19 Dec. 2025
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The Netflix rep says there is no correlation between this change and people mooching off other people's accounts.—
Boone Ashworth,
Wired News,
1 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Leech.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leech. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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