penetrate

Study(17)

/ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪt/

verb 5

Collocations

(verb.)

ADV

deep, deeply, far

Water slowly penetrated deeply into the soil during the heavy rainfall.

fully, totally

hardly

Her voice hardly penetrated the noise of the crowded restaurant.

quickly

slowly

The bitter truth slowly penetrated her mind as she read the letter again.

easily, readily

The new security system prevents thieves from readily penetrating the building's defenses.

successfully

VERB + PENETRATE

be able to, can/could | be difficult to

seem to

The smell of fresh paint seemed to penetrate every room in the house.

fail to

allow sth to

The thick walls of the old castle were designed to prevent arrows from penetrating.

PREP

into

The knife penetrated into the thick wooden door during the break-in.

through

The needle penetrated through the fabric with a sharp point.

The cold air penetrated to the basement despite the sealed windows.

Definitions

verb

To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.

Light penetrates darkness.

He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.

To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.

I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.

things which here were […]too subtile for us to penetrate

To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to move deeply.

to penetrate one's heart with pity

The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style.

To infiltrate an enemy to gather intelligence.

To insert the penis into an orifice, such as a vagina, mouth, or anus.

a male elephant comes up and penetrates the female

His weapons have been destroyed; his body has been or can be penetrated. In other words, he is rapable.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

verb — become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

verb — come to understand

verb — pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance

perforate

verb — spread or diffuse through

verb — enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members

infiltrate

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

Example Bank

Light penetrates darkness.

Wiktionary

The native-born and the "naturalised" locomotives have been giving way to the standardised types, of which the L.M.S.R. class "5" 4-6-0 has led the way and has penetrated the furthest.

Wiktionary

Microwaves penetrate the food in the oven.

Tatoeba · #32893

It took a long time for Japanese imports to penetrate the American consumer markets.

Tatoeba · #281168

She let me penetrate her.

Tatoeba · #555023

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, penetrate is marked as figuratively. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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