How to Use leech in a Sentence

leech

1 of 2 noun
  • This leech is one of the darker flies in Rey’s arsenal.
    Andrew Pegman, Field & Stream, 2 Sep. 2020
  • Soon every spot where a leech once clung was a red, oozing sore.
    Claire Panosian Dunavan, Discover Magazine, 9 Apr. 2017
  • Konibu showed me a scar on his tricep—a bullet wound that bulged and glistened like a leech.
    Monte Reel, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2022
  • This comment would make much more sense applied to, say, a leech swallowing a worm.
    The Editors, Outside Online, 21 Dec. 2022
  • Tied on a jig hook, a balanced leech or wet fly features a heavy bead positioned forward of the eye.
    Morgan Lyle, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
  • Nymphs, wet flies, and leech patterns are always good bets, but so are streamer patterns.
    Morgan Lyle, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
  • Bleeding usually stops two to three hours after the leech has finished.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 2 Nov. 2021
  • Surely, for the leeches, large groups of humans trekking through their habitat is akin to stumbling upon a potluck in a forest.
    Sofia Quaglia, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2023
  • Still, the pattern’s original concept—a leech that’s been lucky enough to find a salmon egg to consume—seems plausible.
    Field & Stream, 13 Oct. 2020
  • Asingle alive leech was recovered from the urethra after ten days with the help of forceps.
    Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 3 May 2018
  • But his offer to turn Louis into an eternal leech is sweetly sincere.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 22 Sep. 2022
  • Throughout the scene, Alex doesn’t have to do much other than flatten herself to her surroundings to become fluid, to leech, to exploit.
    The Editors, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2023
  • General anesthesia might be necessary for the removal of the leech.
    Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 22 Mar. 2016
  • One time after setting a net and while swimming back to the canoe Marcus screamed like a little girl claiming that a leech had swam into his rectum.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 4 May 2021
  • This is the version where every frame has a squint, smudge and, occasionally, a leech taking advantage of the tab left open with room service.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 6 Apr. 2021
  • On a nine-week expedition, a 25-person crew battled malaria and earthquakes, and one student researcher even had a leech stuck in their eye for 33 hours.
    Natalie Kainz, NBC News, 10 Nov. 2023
  • The 25-person crew set out on a nine-week expedition, according to the report, with the crew facing scares such as malaria, earthquakes and one member having a leech stuck in their eye for 33 hours.
    Michael Lee, Fox News, 12 Nov. 2023
  • Hopping them along the bottom can draw attention from species like smallmouth and carp, and if tied with darks like purple and black, the fly can also imitate a leech for walleye or yellow perch.
    Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 17 Jan. 2024
  • There are hundreds of options now—including craws, bugs, grubs, leeches, minnows, and more—but the classic Ned bait that looks like the tail end of a normal soft plastic stick bait still works really well.
    Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The Cubs’ sizable public relations machine often painted the rooftop owners as leeches who were an impediment to the team’s chances of winning.
    Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The physician Galen would recall a member of the Roman gentry who accidentally drank a leech when his servant drew water from a public fountain.
    Edward Watts, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2020
  • Alienated from his progeny, who don’t attend his birthday party (the leech-like Connor, played by Alan Ruck, excepted), Logan is out of sorts.
    Kate Aurthur, Variety, 17 Mar. 2023
  • Vences and his colleagues speculate that leeches may bring blood containing the snake’s jumping gene into the frogs, or perhaps the jumping gene is already in the leech’s own genome from previous contacts with snakes.
    Quanta Magazine, 27 Oct. 2022
  • From March to October, anglers can enjoy the sound of smallmouth peeling line off their reels for hours on end using crankbaits, jerk baits, jigs, soft plastics, streamers, leeches, live worms and pretty much anything that looks like a crayfish.
    Jordan Rodriguez, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The leech essentially performs as an artificial vein that draws off excess blood until the patient can grow back venous capillaries of their own.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 2 Nov. 2021
  • Here, the split between screen and stage, usually such a leech on a show’s dynamism, enacts the fractures between family and commerce, trauma and the future, a new country and a country left behind, everlasting love and the stubbornness of grief.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022
  • Lung squeezes happen when blood leeches from the circulatory system into airways.
    Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY, 5 Aug. 2023
  • Zander Horbath has become a favorite short-yardage contributor and fantasy leech.
    Chron, 30 Sep. 2022
  • Suspended under a suitably buoyant strike indicator, a balanced leech pattern will move gently in response to waves or wind affecting the indicator on the surface.
    Morgan Lyle, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
  • Orifical Hirudiniasis is the presence of leech in natural human orifices.
    Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 3 May 2018
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leech

2 of 2 verb
  • The reason, as the movie presents it, is that the culture around him has leeched his authority away.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 Aug. 2023
  • There are just a couple of hours left in the day, and emotions are starting to leech into the proceedings.
    Dan Snierson, EW.com, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The ash didn’t leech phosphorus, which the ocean is often depleted of, but Ladd said the exact chemicals leeched from the ash will change by location.
    Jenessa Duncombe, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Mar. 2020
  • But telling viewers that babies leech off of their mother’s bones to grow their own will probably receive more engagement.
    Morgan Sung, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Mold spores themselves are not the only opportunistic carpetbaggers looking to leech off the remnants of a storm.
    Jack Denton, Curbed, 10 Sep. 2021
  • According to him, Heard took advantage of his status and money to boost her career while allowing her friends and family to leech off of him.
    Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 May 2022
  • Note: Because cooking can leech out some of the water-soluble vitamins in beets, beet juice made with roasted beets might have less health benefits than raw.
    Katy Severson, chicagotribune.com, 17 Apr. 2021
  • Not to mention, the endless testing and optimizing that can leech away at time and resources that most startups and scaling businesses can’t afford to squander.
    Vito Vishnepolsky, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2021
  • For instance, important nutrients from the carcasses, feces, and food scraps deposited by mammals leech into the forest floor.
    Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 29 Dec. 2021
  • Nickel-free stainless steel is preferable, as small amounts of nickel can leech out of inferior materials in the long cook times associated with making stock.
    The Editors, Outdoor Life, 6 Jan. 2021
  • At what point does professionalizing our personal lives leech them of any spirit or spontaneity?
    Madeleine Aggeler, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2023
  • First of all, most batteries contain cobalt, nickel, manganese, and other heavy metals that can be potentially toxic, and keeping them out of landfills ensures that these metals don’t leech out and pollute drinking water or the natural environment.
    Katherine Gallagher, Treehugger, 2 Mar. 2023
  • If the sale goes through, the young Roys will immediately get to work at undermining the operation while simultaneously leeching off its credibility and pedigree.
    Justine Harman, Town & Country, 18 Apr. 2023
  • This Doctor Monro’s violent techniques included—among other creative tortures—dunking George’s head repeatedly into ice-cold water, slapping him, starving him of nutrients, and leeching him.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 10 May 2023
  • The reason, as the movie presents it, is that the culture around him has leeched his authority away.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 Aug. 2023
  • There are just a couple of hours left in the day, and emotions are starting to leech into the proceedings.
    Dan Snierson, EW.com, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The ash didn’t leech phosphorus, which the ocean is often depleted of, but Ladd said the exact chemicals leeched from the ash will change by location.
    Jenessa Duncombe, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Mar. 2020
  • But telling viewers that babies leech off of their mother’s bones to grow their own will probably receive more engagement.
    Morgan Sung, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Mold spores themselves are not the only opportunistic carpetbaggers looking to leech off the remnants of a storm.
    Jack Denton, Curbed, 10 Sep. 2021
  • According to him, Heard took advantage of his status and money to boost her career while allowing her friends and family to leech off of him.
    Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 May 2022
  • Note: Because cooking can leech out some of the water-soluble vitamins in beets, beet juice made with roasted beets might have less health benefits than raw.
    Katy Severson, chicagotribune.com, 17 Apr. 2021
  • Not to mention, the endless testing and optimizing that can leech away at time and resources that most startups and scaling businesses can’t afford to squander.
    Vito Vishnepolsky, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2021
  • For instance, important nutrients from the carcasses, feces, and food scraps deposited by mammals leech into the forest floor.
    Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 29 Dec. 2021
  • Nickel-free stainless steel is preferable, as small amounts of nickel can leech out of inferior materials in the long cook times associated with making stock.
    The Editors, Outdoor Life, 6 Jan. 2021
  • At what point does professionalizing our personal lives leech them of any spirit or spontaneity?
    Madeleine Aggeler, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2023
  • First of all, most batteries contain cobalt, nickel, manganese, and other heavy metals that can be potentially toxic, and keeping them out of landfills ensures that these metals don’t leech out and pollute drinking water or the natural environment.
    Katherine Gallagher, Treehugger, 2 Mar. 2023
  • If the sale goes through, the young Roys will immediately get to work at undermining the operation while simultaneously leeching off its credibility and pedigree.
    Justine Harman, Town & Country, 18 Apr. 2023
  • This Doctor Monro’s violent techniques included—among other creative tortures—dunking George’s head repeatedly into ice-cold water, slapping him, starving him of nutrients, and leeching him.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 10 May 2023
  • The reason, as the movie presents it, is that the culture around him has leeched his authority away.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 Aug. 2023
  • There are just a couple of hours left in the day, and emotions are starting to leech into the proceedings.
    Dan Snierson, EW.com, 17 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'leech.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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