breakthrough
Americannoun
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a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.
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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.
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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.
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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
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constituting a breakthrough: Critics called it a breakthrough film.
Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology.
Critics called it a breakthrough film.
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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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Earlier this year, the Bronx-born Dominican actor reprised her breakthrough TV role as Carla Espinosa on the reboot of the beloved ABC medical sitcom, “Scrubs.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
PrismML has achieved a mathematical breakthrough that achieves a 1-bit model without compromising the reasoning, coding, and general knowledge capabilities of full-precision models, according to Hassibi.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Parents have described the breakthrough as "incredibly meaningful" and a starting point for better treatment and understanding of the condition.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
Beyond its size, the breakthrough could have major implications for long-term data storage.
From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026
When word of the breakthrough in making sugar reached the landowners in that one more advanced part of Russia, they knew just what to do: plant beets.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
