Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To enter or force a way into; pierce.
- v. To enter into and permeate: The insistent rhythm of piano practice penetrated each room of the house.
- v. To cause to be permeated or diffused; steep.
- v. To insert the penis into the vagina or anus of.
- v. To enter (an organization, for example), usually surreptitiously, so as to gain influence or information; infiltrate.
- v. To enter and gain a share of (a market): penetrated the home-computer market with an affordable new model.
- v. To grasp the inner significance of; understand.
- v. To see through: keen eyes that penetrate the darkness.
- v. To affect deeply, as by piercing the consciousness or emotions.
- v. To pierce or enter into something; make a way in or through something.
- v. To gain admittance or access.
- v. To gain insight.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
Wiktionary
- v. Manage to enter into.
- v. figuratively To achieve understanding despite (some obstacle thereto).
- v. To insert a penis into an opening, such as a vagina or anus.
- v. To infiltrate the enemy to gather intelligence.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce.
- v. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply.
- v. 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.
- v. To pass; to make way; to pierce. Also used figuratively.
WordNet 3.0
- v. enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members
- v. insert the penis into the vagina or anus of
- v. come to understand
- v. pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance
- v. spread or diffuse through
- v. make one's way deeper into or through
- v. become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
Etymologies
- From Latin penetratus, past participle of penetrare ("to put, set, or place within, enter, pierce, penetrate"), from penes ("within, with") + -trare (as in intrare ("to go in, enter"), from intra ("within")). (Wiktionary)
- Latin penetrāre, penetrāt-, from penitus, deeply. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Just letting the word penetrate one’s conscious mind …”
“Believe me, something will penetrate is someday and kick your ass, physically or mentally.”
“Thief," Klassh spoke and this time felt the word penetrate the elf's mental block.”
The Dragons at War
“Thief," Klassh spoke and this time felt the word penetrate the elf's mental block.surprise. fear.”
The Dragons at War
“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.”
“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
“General Dombrowski33 was making efforts to penetrate from the Italian land into Poland, how he was gathering his countrymen on the plains of”
“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
“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.”
“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.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘penetrate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Victorious Verbs
exudate, agglutinate, permeate, penetrate, attenuate, aggregate, emaciate, concatenate, exonerate, castigate, promulgate, obstinate and 2 more...
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Words of seduction
nibble, caress, writhing, whisper, penetrate, lick, flushed, passionate, embrace, nudity, intimacy, tempt and 17 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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sort of sexy
pressure, press, urgency, squeezing, influence, compel, push, tease, thrust, full, drive, urge on and 99 more...
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fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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Let's talk about sex
A collection of words about doing the nasty.
prurient, odalisque, soubrette, gravid, lochia, xenogamy, syngamy, zygote, pintle, hexaploid, seminal, hetaera and 232 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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wordsmithing part deux
because wordsmith is not a verb.
enmity, incarnate, chignon, nape, solitude, nocturne, decorum, warren, svelte, interstice, serene, charlotte and 488 more...
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Ugliest Words Ever
words that I refuse to say out loud.
tuna, uranus, bulbous, vaginal, rectum, cunnilingus, flatulance, pedagogy, blooper, booger, beefy, polyp and 116 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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the physical experience
wank, snog, tendon, sinew, sauce shelf, pet, arse, astigmatism, bisexual, brassiere, breast, climax and 186 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Spod's Words
corpulent, squidge, squiffy, sinuosity, ebullient, finger, penetrate, stimulate, recalcitrant, recidivist, dunnock, rococo and 152 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for penetrate.

sakhalinskii ...Oh dear. Jul 30, 2008