These words apply to fluid that flows or drops little by little. Leak stresses the idea of accident. It refers to the unintended entry or escape of a fluid that is meant to be excluded or contained.

• The roof leaks ; Oil is leaking out of the crankcase; The tap is leaking .

The noun leak may designate a chance opening, as a hole, crack, crevice or faulty closure, through which fluid may pass.

• The boat has sprung a leak ; They plugged the leak in the dam.

In other respects, leak is the least specific of these words. It may apply to air, gas, light or electric current as well as to liquid: a leaking balloon; a punctured tyre leaking air. Unlike the other words, it may involve a fast, heavy or steady flow as well as a slow, slight or intermittent one: A leak in the plumbing flooded the bathroom.

Drip means to fall in drops or to let liquid fall in drops: rain dripping from the eaves; dripping trees; fat that drips from roasting meat; children dripping ice cream on the floor. Something that drips may be leaking or overflowing: a dripping spigot; a comb dripping with honey. A paper bag may drip when a container in the bag is leaking . Drip may also designate the sound of liquid falling drop by drop: the maddening drip of a leaking tap. Where drip implies a broken, staccato movement, trickle is used of liquid that runs gently. It indicates a slow fall or slight flow of liquid, either drop by drop or in a fine, thin stream: a trickling spout; a rivulet trickling over rocks; perspiration slowly trickling down his back. Fluid may drip or trickle either from a leak that was unforeseen or from an opening designed for the discharge of liquid. And trickle often suggests either that a flow has not been fully started or that it is petering out: Only a trickle of water came out of the garden hose.

Ooze indicates a slow leakage or a sluggish flow, as of a liquid squeezing out in droplets through small openings: sap oozing from a tree; gravy oozing from a hot pit; a wounded body oozing blood; Sweat oozed from his forehead and trickled down his cheeks. In an extended sense, ooze may be applied to any similar seepage: Vapours seemed to ooze out of the swamp. And it sometimes refers to the unctuous flow or easy movement of a substance that is thick and slippery: the ooze of oil; the ooze of mud between the toes.

In a figurative sense, leak refers to an unofficial or unauthorized divulging of information.

• There was a leak in the security system; The news leaked out; An unnamed official leaked the story to the press.

Trickle may indicate movement in a very small stream, one thing or person at a time: only a trickle of information; a trickle of visitors; workers trickling out of a building shortly before 5.00 P.M. Trickle may also apply to an uncertain, rippling sound suggestive of trickling water: a trickle of applause. Ooze sometimes indicates the slow, silent escape of some vital quality: His courage oozed away. It may also imply the exuding of something as if through the pores: a politician oozing confidence and affability. Drip suggests a being saturated or laden with something that seems to spill over in liquid-like drops: a voice dripping with venom; a dowager dripping with diamonds.