break through

British  

verb

1. (intr) to penetrate

2. (intr, adverb) to achieve success, make a discovery, etc, esp after lengthy efforts

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noun

1. a significant development or discovery, esp in science

2. the penetration of an enemy's defensive position or line in depth and strength

break through Idioms  

1. Penetrate a barrier or obstruction, as in They broke through the wall to get into the vault, or It won't be long before we break through the code and map all human genes. Used literally for going through a physical barrier since about 1400, this phrase began to be used figuratively in the late 1500s.

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Example Sentences

You don’t know them outside of the clips–slash–paid ads, but you feel like you do, which makes it all the more difficult for actually scrupulous journalists and fact-finders to break through and correct the record.

From Slate • May 6, 2026

But aside from the tainted run in the second, they couldn’t break through against until the sixth.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026

It's a risk, because both teams have defenders who play comfortably under pressure and will, on occasions, break through even the best press.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

At this very moment, we can see political leaders as different as Magyar, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois trying to break through this sense of dislocation.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

Piper wondered if she would ever be able to break through that barrier.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• arrive
• come
• come out
• crop up
• develop
• emerge
• materialize
• occur
• pop up
• present
• show
• show up
• surface
• turn out
• turn up