leach/leech

It’s often difficult to know exactly when to use each of these two, since they work in similar contexts, especially when used metaphorically.
leach usually means that something is being washed out by water: The calcium was being leached from the rock.
leech means that something is being sucked out (by analogy to a leech, a blood-sucking creature): The party leeched the energy out of me.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe without commenting