Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To enter, pass into, or force a way into.
- intransitive verb To enter into and permeate.
- intransitive verb To affect deeply, as by being known or by arousing the emotions.
- intransitive verb To insert the penis, a finger, or an object into the vagina or anus of (someone).
- intransitive verb To insert something into (the vagina or anus).
- intransitive verb To enter (an organization, for example), usually surreptitiously, so as to gain influence or information; infiltrate.
- intransitive verb To enter and gain a share of (a market).
- intransitive verb To grasp the significance of; understand.
- intransitive verb To see through.
- intransitive verb To enter or pass into something.
- intransitive verb To have an effect or influence, especially on the mind or emotions.
- intransitive verb To gain insight.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To pierce into or through; enter and make way into the inner or interior parts of: as, the rays of light penetrated the thick darkness of the cave.
- To enter and affect deeply; influence; impress; hence, to enter and become part of; permeate: as, to be penetrated with a sense of gratitude.
- To arrive at the inner contents or the meaning of; see through; discern; discover: as, to
penetrate a mystery; to penetrate a design. - Synonyms Penetrate, Pierce, Perforate, Bore through, Transfix. Penetrate may mean no more than to make entrance into, and that slowly or with some difficulty, or it may have the meaning of pierce. Pierce means to penetrate deeply and quickly, and therefore presumably, although not necessarily, with some sharp instrument. (See Heb. iv. 12.) Perforate and bore through mean to make a hole through, the former generally expressing the making of a smaller hole, the latter expressing sustained labor or slowness: as, the book-worm perforates leather binding; the carpenter bores through a beam; a bullet perforates or pierces the body. To transfix is to pierce through, the instrument remaining in that which is transfixed: as, to
transfix a bird with an arrow; to transfix a butterfly with a pin. - To enter by piercing; pass, as a piercing instrument; enter and make way; reach by piercing: literally or figuratively: usually followed by to or into.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To pass; to make way; to pierce. Also used figuratively.
- transitive verb To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce.
- transitive verb To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply.
- transitive verb To pierce into by the mind; to arrive at the inner contents or meaning of, as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Manage to enter into.
- verb figuratively To achieve understanding despite (some obstacle thereto).
- verb To insert a
penis into an opening, such as avagina oranus . - verb To
infiltrate the enemy to gather intelligence.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members
- verb insert the penis into the vagina or anus of
- verb come to understand
- verb pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance
- verb spread or diffuse through
- verb make one's way deeper into or through
- verb become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Just letting the word penetrate one’s conscious mind …
Dwellers in the Crucible Margaret Wander Bonanno 1990
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Believe me, something will penetrate is someday and kick your ass, physically or mentally.
You Ain’t No Picasso « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2007
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"Thief," Klassh spoke and this time felt the word penetrate the elf's mental block.surprise. fear.
The Dragons at War Weis, Margaret 1996
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"Thief," Klassh spoke and this time felt the word penetrate the elf's mental block.
The Dragons at War Weis, Margaret 1996
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This corresponds to what I have called earlier the mere pattern predictions to which we are increasingly confined as we penetrate from the realm in which relatively simple laws prevail into the range of phenomena where organized complexity rules.
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The Black Sea rivers in ancient times opened their countries to such elements of Hellenic culture as might penetrate from the Greek trading colonies at their mouths, especially the Greek forms of Christianity.
Influences of Geographic Environment On the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropo-Geography Ellen Churchill Semple 1897
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General Dombrowski33 was making efforts to penetrate from the Italian land into Poland, how he was gathering his countrymen on the plains of
Pan Tadeusz Or, the Last Foray in Lithuania; a Story of Life Among Polish Gentlefolk in the Years 1811 and 1812 Adam Mickiewicz 1826
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Link iphone is a hot product, we know that Asians love new gadget, so if Apple still slow in penetrate Asia market and with its policy deal only with one provider likes AT&T in US, we’ll see the grey market will keep increase or “similar” products from China will fill the Asia market —
Good News in the One Million Missing iPhones - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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He has what is a very difficult rationale to penetrate, that is that he cannot really say how he would rule on cases, because if he is confirmed, as everybody expects, then it would be undermining his credibility as a sitting judge, or in this particular case, a sitting chief justice.
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He knew that if the wasp had chosen either of them, the chosen one would have felt a stabbing thing like a red-hot sword penetrate to his vitals.
The Raid on the Termites Paul Ernst
sakhalinskii commented on the word penetrate
...Oh dear.
July 30, 2008