leech
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of subclass Hirudinea.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
leechIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlitʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
figuratively
A person who derives advantage from others in a parasitic fashion.
verb
Draw blood
transitivefiguratively
To drain (resources) without giving back.
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Synonyms
Sense: draw blood
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.