penetrate

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪt/

Verb

penetrate (penetrates, present participle penetrating; past and past participle penetrated)

1. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.

   Light penetrates darkness.

2. (figuratively) To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.

   I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.

   • things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate

3. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to move deeply.

   to penetrate one's heart with pity

   • The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style.

4. To infiltrate an enemy to gather intelligence.
5. To insert the penis into an opening, such as a vagina or anus.

   a male elephant comes up and penetrates the female elephant

6. (chess) To move a piece past the defending pieces of one's opponent.

Translations

• French: pénétrer
• German: eindringen, penetrieren
• Italian: penetrare
• Portuguese: penetrar
• Russian: проника́ть
• Spanish: penetrar

Translations

• German: penetrieren

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