penetrate
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
Etymology
From Latin penētrātus, past participle of penētrō ("to put, set, or place within, enter, pierce, penetrate"), from penes ("within, with") by analogy to intrō ("to go in, enter").
Pronunciation- IPA: /ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪt/, /ˈpɛnətɹeɪt/
penetrate (penetrates, present participle penetrating; simple past and past participle penetrated)
- To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.
- Light penetrates darkness.
- (figuratively) To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.
- I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.
- 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC ↗:
- 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
- 1867, Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature:
- The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:
- I am advised to give her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate
- 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
- (chess) To move a piece past the defending pieces of one's opponent.
- double-penetrate
- French: pénétrer
- German: eindringen, penetrieren
- Italian: penetrare
- Portuguese: penetrar
- Russian: проника́ть
- Spanish: penetrar
- German: penetrieren
- Spanish: penetrar
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
