breakthrough

American  

[breyk-throo] / ˈbreɪkˌθru /

noun

1. a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.

2. an act or instance of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction; the overcoming of a stalemate.

   The president reported a breakthrough in the treaty negotiations.

3. any significant or sudden advance, development, achievement, or increase, as in scientific knowledge or diplomacy, that removes a barrier to progress.

   The jet engine was a major breakthrough in air transport.

4. Medicine/Medical. an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs in an individual despite their having received a vaccine, medication, or treatment.

   Covid breakthroughs are usually less severe than infections in unvaccinated people, indicating that the vaccine is still doing its job of combating the virus.

---

adjective

1. constituting a breakthrough: Critics called it a breakthrough film.

   Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology.

   Critics called it a breakthrough film.

2. Medicine/Medical. relating to or being an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs as a breakthrough: She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.

   In the original vaccine trial, 89% of breakthrough infections were with a particular family of virus strains.

   She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.

Etymology

Origin of breakthrough

First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase break through

Explanation

An amazing discovery or a huge amount of progress can be called a breakthrough. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 was a breakthrough for modern medicine. A personal breakthrough might be overcoming your fear of spiders once and for all. A bigger breakthrough, one that affects many people, is the invention of indoor plumbing. There's a sense of suddenness and drama associated with most breakthroughs. The word started out with a military meaning of literally "breaking through a barrier" in 1918. By the 1930s, it came to have the second meaning of "abrupt solution."

Example Sentences

A genuine efficiency breakthrough, or a pause in data-center capital spending, would reprice both sides of this market fast: relief for the consumer-facing companies, and a reckoning for suppliers valued for permanent scarcity.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

Expectation has followed Andreeva ever since her WTA Tour breakthrough at the 2023 Madrid Open, where her talent and fearlessness led to praise from Britain's former world number one Andy Murray.

From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026

The real question is whether this one-two punch innovation represents a true breakthrough.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026

“But we had a breakthrough last week and he’s sleeping a lot better. Therefore, my life has been a lot easier.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

It might seem a marriage made in heaven, but there were still hurdles to be overcome before Kepler could achieve the breakthrough that made him a key figure in the history of science.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Related Words

• boost
• development
• discovery
• finding
• gain
• hike
• improvement
• leap
• progress