EN

Synonyms for leech

27 synonyms
6 meanings

noun
verb

Most common

vampire blood-sucker hirudinean sponge parasite strip healer scrounge

Synonyms by meaning

Noun

1. Vampire

blood-sucker, vampire, sucker, hirudinean

2. Parasite

parasite, sponge, sponger

3. Doctor — A physician

doctor, physician, barber

Other

healer, scrounge, strip, satyr, free-loader, lecher, smell-feast dated

Verb

1. Make better — to treat, cure or heal

heal, cure, treat

2. Suck down — to drain (resources) without giving back

suck down, mooch informal

3. Bleed

bleed, phlebotomise

Other

parasitize, parasitise UK, percolate, lixiviate

Definitions

n. 1
A physician.
n. 2
A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
v. 1
To drain (resources) without giving back.
Near-synonyms: mooch, suck down
v. 2
To treat, cure or heal.

Related words

Word family: leechlike leechcraft
Other spellings: leach lech letch

Forms

Plural: leeches → blood-suckers, vampires, suckers, hirudineans…
Past participle: leeched
e.g. leeched → healed, cured, tret, mooched…

Example sentences

vampire He works as a teacher, but actually he's a vampire.
sponge Tom threw a soaking wet sponge at me at school today.
parasite The parasite started eating Stefan from the inside.
strip Full body scanners perform a virtual strip search.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
leech		rising
vampire		rising
sponge		steady
parasite		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: cure¹, heal¹
5 letters: treat¹, strip¹, bleed¹, satyr, mooch
6 letters: doctor², barber², sucker², sponge¹, healer², lecher²
7 letters: vampire², sponger
8 letters: parasite³, scrounge¹
9 letters: physician³, percolate³, lixiviate
10 letters: parasitize, hirudinean, parasitise
12 letters: phlebotomise

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (doctor² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: sangsue
Italiano: sanguisuga
Español: sanguijuela
Català: sangonera