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Glite Dictionary
🧠 Very sharp ❄️ Very intense
penetrating

penetrating

1 4.9
A cold or strong feeling that seems to go through you
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɛnəˌtreɪtɪŋ/
: penetrante
  • The speaker was Fernando Brill, whom I recalled had an unusually loud and penetrating voice.

You can get around that by using ground penetrating radar, which avoids the surface water problem but and surface slickness problem.

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Examples

  • Her penetrating questions during the interview revealed the candidate's true motivations.

  • A powerful and penetrating heat engulfs them immediately.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • And I, I found myself, as I began to read the book, felt like this sort of cold, penetrating mist was coming in.

  • Her eyes are bright, penetrating, ferocious.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • It is just a penetrating and straightforward analysis of what happened and for that reason very useful.

  • I want something richer, broader, more penetrating, and powerful.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The sculptures also provide a penetrating view of Peul (Fulani) culture and aesthetics, as we find in Scene of Plaiting.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Her executive assistant was a somewhat younger, intense nun who paced ceaselessly and had a stare more penetrating than a steel-cutting laser beam.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Yet in trying to avoid a skewed or simplistic understanding, the complex nature of the reality itself means that a penetrating and comprehensive analysis is hardly feasible in a brief, albeit dense, encyclical.

    Academic text (2010)

  • One of the more profound and best-known freethinking artists, Ani DiFranco, has recently released a beautiful album, Educated Guess, comprised of penetrating, often deeply rational lyricism.

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

piercing
vspenetrating
2 5.5

A very sharp, intense feeling or sound that seems to cut

enters and affects deeply rather than focusing on sharp intensity
penetrative
vspenetrating
1 7.4

Strong or sharp enough to go into something and reach what is inside

is the same meaning but differs only in word form
permeating
vspenetrating
5.8

Spreads through a place or thing and fills every part

enters deeply without necessarily spreading to every part

Antonyms

ineffective
90 3.4

Not working well enough to give the wanted result

Compounds

penetrating injury
  • Specialized
2 6.3

Damage that happens when an object like a knife or bullet enters the body through the skin

penetrating trauma
  • Specialized
1 6.5

A wound made when an object enters the body, like a knife or bullet

How Piercing

searing
4.1
piercing
2 5.5
penetrating
1 4.9
noticeable
65 3.2
mild
107 1.0

Surface Forms

penetrating positive

Morphology

penetrating = penetrate (transparent) = penetrate + ing

Regular adjectival use of the verb 'penetrate' with -ing yields the literal meaning 'able to enter or pierce', which is directly deducible.

Etymology

The word penetrating comes from the Latin penetrare, which means 'to go into' or 'to pierce'. So a penetrating chill, gaze, or noise feels like it cuts through the air and reaches you deeply.