Percolate definition

pûrkə-lāt
percolated percolates percolating
See word origin
Frequency:
To drain or seep through a porous material or filter.
verb
6
2
To brew (coffee) in a percolator.
verb
2
0
(informal) To spread slowly or gradually.
verb
3
3
To percolate is to gradually spread or filter through.

An example of percolate is when water gradually spreads and filters through soil.

An example of percolate is when an idea gradually spreads and becomes more well known.

When you make coffee in a special coffee maker called a percolator, this is an example of percolate.

verb
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To cause (liquid, for example) to pass through a porous substance or small holes; filter.
verb
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0
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To pass or ooze through.

Water percolated the sand.

verb
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To make (coffee) in a percolator.
verb
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To drain or ooze through (a porous substance); permeate.
verb
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To become active or lively; start bubbling up, as coffee in a percolator.
verb
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To pass or ooze through a porous substance.
verb
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0
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To spread throughout; permeate.
verb
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A liquid produced by percolating.
noun
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To pass a liquid through a porous substance; to filter.
verb
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(intransitive) To drain or seep through a porous substance.

Water percolates through sand.

verb
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To make (coffee) in a percolator.

I'll percolate some coffee.

verb
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0
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(intransitive, figuratively) To spread slowly or gradually; to slowly become noticed or realised.

Reports on the pitiful state of many prisons have finally percolated through to the Home Office, which has promised to look into the situation.

Through media reports it percolated to the surface that the police investigation was profoundly flawed.

verb
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(rare) A liquid that has been percolated.
noun
0
0
(informal) To become lively or active.
verb
2
3
A liquid that has been percolated.
noun
1
2
To pass (a liquid) gradually through small spaces or a porous substance; filter.
verb
1
2
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
percolate
Plural:
percolates

Origin of percolate

  • Latin percōlāre percōlāt- per- per- cōlāre to filter (from cōlum sieve)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin percōlō (“I filter"), itself, from per (“through") + colō (“I strain") (from cōlum (“a strainer"), of unknown origin).

    From Wiktionary

Percolate Sentence Examples

  • Christianity had already begun to percolate Hungary.

  • Percolate a perfect outdoor cup of coffee with a stainless steel coffee pot that is safe to place over an open flame.

  • Simply listening to the music, picturing the dancers in the space, and letting all of this planning percolate will almost certainly begin to inspire movement phrases and eventually the entire dance routine will fall into place.

  • Small, however, as the micro-organisms are, they are larger than the capillary passages in some materials through which water under pressure may be caused to percolate.

  • Thus modern phosphate does not percolate to prehistoric levels.

More sentences

Related articles

Words near percolate in the Dictionary