leaf

1. 1.

   look through a book or other written material

   “He thumbed through the report”

   “She leafed through the volume”

   Synonymsflickflipthumbriffleriff

   Broaderperuse
2. 2.

   turn over pages

   “leaf through a book”

   “leaf a manuscript”

   Broaderturn
3. 3.

   produce leaves, of plants

   Broadergrow

Other forms of leaf

plural

leaves

past tense

leafed·

present participle

leafing·

third person

leafs·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about leaf

What does leaf mean?

leaf means "the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in leaf?

leaf has 1 syllable: leaf. In IPA it is /ˈlif/.

What is another word for leaf?

Close synonyms include leafage, foliage, folio, flick, flip. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is leaf a common word?

leaf is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with leaf?

6 words rhyme with leaf. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.