penetrating
Americanadjective
Related Words
See acute.
Other Word Forms
- nonpenetrating adjective
- penetratingly adverb
- penetratingness noun
- unpenetrating adjective
- unpenetratingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of penetrating
First recorded in 1590–1600; penetrat(e) + -ing 2
Vocabulary lists containing penetrating
"Animal Wisdom" and "The Last Wolf," Vocabulary from the poems
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Skellig
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Insightful
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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.
“There have been thousands of targets hit with thousands of sorties penetrating contested airspace. It’s been an entire month and this is the first time we’ve had a combat loss? That’s incredible.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
But even Mahajan’s most “self-destructive” Chopras who “live deathwards” have motivations so sophisticatedly complex that readers will inhabit their eyes, ears and bodies without fully penetrating their psyches.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026
"My eyes nearly popped out of my skull," said project lead Dr Alex Langlands, after ground penetrating radar revealed the "huge structure" in Margam Country Park.
From BBC • Jan. 11, 2026
He replaced Ismaila Sarr just after Bakambu's opener, and made the leveller from a penetrating run down the right.
From Barron's • Dec. 27, 2025
Then Colonel Aureliano Buendía realized, without surprise, that Úrsula was the only human being who had succeeded in penetrating his misery, and for the first time in many years he looked her in the face.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
