to penetrate

Examples

• All

• Efforts to penetrate the dampening field the humans have placed around our world have failed.

  Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt (2011)

• But wait, infrared light also penetrates nearby gas clouds.

• Now we leave it on, let it penetrate the skin for thirty minutes, which is just enough time to clean it up.

  #No_Filter (2022)

• I knocked on his door, beating hard to penetrate the sound of his radio.

  Fiction book (1990)

• Her head turned this way and that as she tried to penetrate the thick coat of mud.

  Fiction book (1991)

• According to what I've been told, no one has ever managed to penetrate his security.

  Fiction book (1992)

• We are attempting to penetrate the impenetrable forest.

• We were worried, given how deep the bullet penetrated.

  Fortress: Sniper's Eye (2022)

• Now this glue will penetrate through this washikozo to the surface of the paint and bond this paper down.

• We penetrate the island through the tunnels under the prison buildings undetected... and emerge in its centre;

  The Rock (1996)

Synonyms

E

to enter

vsto penetrate

∞ 1.0

To go into a building, room, or area

adds the sense of doing this with effort or difficulty

P

to pierce

vsto penetrate

110 3.5

To make a hole in something with a sharp object like a needle

involves entering with effort rather than focusing on a cutting tool

R

to reach into

vsto penetrate

63 2.7

To put your hand into something to take or feel something

means to enter or pass into or through rather than only reach

C

to cut through

vsto penetrate

51 3.0

To go straight across a place, for example through land or a crowd

focuses on entering or passing with effort, not necessarily direct cutting

P

to puncture

vsto penetrate

50 3.9

To make a small hole in something with a sharp object that lets air or liquid escape

is broader, meaning to enter or pass through rather than only small holes

C

to come through

vsto penetrate

49 3.8

To move through something from one side to the other

adds the idea of effort or difficulty to simply passing through

B

to break through

vsto penetrate

43 3.7

To move suddenly through a barrier, as light or a person

covers entering with effort but not only sudden or explosive action

T

to tunnel

vsto penetrate

23 3.5

To dig a passage under something

is the general act of entering, not limited to digging methods

I

to infiltrate

vsto penetrate

• Specialized

16 7.3

To move slowly through a material like soil or walls

implies effortful entry but not slow, gradual infiltration

P

to perforate

vsto penetrate

12 6.1

Make a hole through something by piercing it

means entering or passing through without stressing repeated hole making

P

to pierce through

vsto penetrate

3 4.4

Move into and through something by making a hole or gap

enters or passes with effort but without stressing complete breakthrough

S

to slice into

vsto penetrate

3 4.2

Move a sharp object into something to cut it

means to enter or pass with effort, not necessarily by slicing

How Deeply

to pierce

110 3.5

to penetrate

175 4.1

to enter

∞ 1.0

to brush

133 1.6

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology