Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. An act of overcoming or penetrating an obstacle or restriction.
- n. A military offensive that penetrates an enemy's lines of defense.
- n. A major achievement or success that permits further progress, as in technology.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Characterized by major progress or overcoming some obstacle.
- n. An advance through and past enemy lines (or vice versa).
- n. Any major progress; such as a great innovation or discovery that overcomes a significant obstacle.
- n. The penetration of the opposition defence
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. a productive insight.
- n. a sudden change of situation, such as making an important discovery, that permits further rapid advances toward a goal.
- n. a penetration of an enemy's defense in depth and strength.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. making an important discovery
- n. a productive insight
- n. a penetration of a barrier such as an enemy's defense
- v. break out
- v. penetrate
- v. pass through (a barrier)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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The term breakthrough innovation is used consciously as opposed to nominal or incremental innovation with little or no social value.
Complexity, IPR Rights and Innovation Ecologies: Distributive Considerations
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SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, I think -- the term breakthrough I think gets overused.
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Okay, okay, the word breakthrough has been hopelessly overused … and thus cheapened beyond recognition.
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Therapists use the term breakthrough a lot, and it was one, but it's still a bit tender.
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But critics say the breakthrough is a step towards human cloning and erodes the sanctity of human life.
New Era of Designer Babies with Three Parents and No Hereditary Diseases | Impact Lab
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Then he got what he describes as his breakthrough idea: an online multiplayer version that can be used to conduct a "Massive Market Madness Tournament" with thousands of high schools across the country.
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Severstal, based in Russia, last year announced plans to build what it called a breakthrough automotive steel.
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KAYSERI, Turkey—The Nabucco consortium signed agreements Wednesday with transit countries for a pipeline it is building to bring natural gas to Europe via Turkey, in what it called a breakthrough for the troubled project.
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The Nabucco consortium signed pacts with transit countries for a pipeline to bring natural gas to Europe via Turkey, in what it called a breakthrough.
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The company recently won what it called breakthrough commuter-train orders from China and France.
hernesheir commented on the word breakthrough
In oil/gas extraction and production parlance, breakthrough most commonly refers to water or gas breakthrough, where water or gas injected via injection wells to maintain reservoir pressure breaks through to the producing well(s).
June 2, 2010
reesetee commented on the word breakthrough
Ha! That kind of clue drives my father crazy.
March 7, 2008
oroboros commented on the word breakthrough
Good news for a scientist, bad news for a roofer! --NYT crossword puzzle clue
March 7, 2008