penetrable
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of penetrable
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin penetrābilis, equivalent to penetrā ( re ) to penetrate + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Something can be called penetrable if substances can pass through it. A coffee filter is penetrable, for example, because it allows water to drip through it. Your curtains are penetrable if they let sunlight peek through, and a country's borders are considered penetrable if they allow people to pass through them unnoticed by guards or customs officials. In basketball, having a penetrable defense is bad news — it means it allows the opposition's players to get right up to the basket, where they can easily shoot. Sometimes penetrable means "understandable," as in a penetrable poem or penetrable song lyrics.
Vocabulary lists containing penetrable
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.
"Since the bacteria are living organisms, over time they developed a resistance, in the form of a less penetrable membrane, to traditional disinfectants," Sánchez explained.
From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2024
But Seattle’s defense has been so bad, so inconsistent and so penetrable that even Wilson’s greatness on the other side of the ball can’t solve all the problems.
From Washington Times • Nov. 9, 2020
They are penetrable, and their immune systems are corruptible.
From Washington Post • Apr. 7, 2020
In reality, it’s not a wall; it’s not hundreds of miles; it can be climbed; it’s penetrable, and in one instance, it failed to withstand wind gusts of 37 miles per hour.
From MSNBC • Jan. 30, 2020
In later years they change faces, places and maybe races, tactics, intensities and goals, but beneath those penetrable masks they wear forever the stocking-capped faces of childhood.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
