penetrant
Americannoun
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a person or thing that penetrates.
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a compound that penetrates the skin, as a lotion or cream.
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a substance that lowers the surface tension of water; wetting agent.
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Zoology. a large nematocyst discharging a barbed thread that penetrates the body of the prey and injects a toxic fluid.
adjective
adjective
noun
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chem a substance that lowers the surface tension of a liquid and thus causes it to penetrate or be absorbed more easily
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a person or thing that penetrates
Other Word Forms
- unpenetrant adjective
Etymology
Origin of penetrant
1535–45; < Latin penetrant- (stem of penetrāns ), present participle of penetrāre to penetrate; -ant
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.
“It would give us a better sense of how penetrant the virus is in our communities,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.
From Washington Times • May 14, 2020
Only five per cent of disease-related gene mutations are fully penetrant, which means they guarantee the disease.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 17, 2019
Whole-brain radiation treatment – highly penetrant x-rays dosed directly through her skull – would also be used against leukaemia growth in her brain.
From The Guardian • Jan. 17, 2011
It's just this sort of subtle, penetrant reasoning that gives us all such confidence in the future.
From Time Magazine Archive
Opening a magazine and holding it fairly high before his face while apparently reading it, Hanlon started talking in low but penetrant tones.
From Man of Many Minds by Evans, E. Everett (Edward Everett)
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.
