1 ~ (into / through / to) sth to go into or through sth:
[VN] The knife had penetrated his chest. * The sun's radiation penetrates the skin. * The cold seemed to penetrate his bones. * (figurative) The war penetrates every area of the nation's life. * [V] These fine particles penetrate deep into the lungs.
2 to succeed in entering or joining an organization, a group, etc. especially when this is difficult to do:
[VN] They had penetrated airport security. * The party has been penetrated by extremists. * This year the company has been trying to penetrate new markets (= to start selling their products there). * [V] The troops had penetrated deep into enemy lines.
3 [VN] to see or show a way into or through sth:
Our eyes could not penetrate the darkness. * The flashlights barely penetrated the gloom. * narrow alleys where the sun never penetrates
4 [VN] to understand or discover sth that is difficult to understand or is hidden:
Science can penetrate many of nature's mysteries. * a style that is difficult to penetrate * No one could penetrate the meaning of the inscription.
5 to be understood or realized by sb:
[V] I was at the door before his words penetrated. * [VN] None of my advice seems to have penetrated his thick skull (= he has not listened to any of it).
6 [VN] (of a man) to put the PENIS into the VAGINA or ANUS of a sexual partner
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of penetrate come from?
This entry for penetrate is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is penetrate a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, penetrate is tagged as verb.
Does penetrate appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — penetrate appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
