penetration
Americannoun
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penetrations
plural
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the act or power of penetrating.
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mental acuteness, discernment, or insight.
a scholar of rare penetration.
- Synonyms:
- profundity, depth, discrimination, perception, understanding
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the obtaining of a share of a market for some commodity or service.
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the extension, usually peaceful, of the influence of one nation or culture into the affairs of another.
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a military attack that penetrates into enemy territory.
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Gunnery. the depth to which a projectile goes into the target.
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the measure of relative depth of field of a telescope or microscope, especially a binocular microscope.
noun
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the act or an instance of penetrating
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the ability or power to penetrate
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keen insight or perception
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military an offensive manoeuvre that breaks through an enemy's defensive position
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Also called: market penetration. the proportion of the total number of potential purchasers of a product or service who either are aware of its existence or actually buy it
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another name for depth of field
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of penetration
First recorded in 1595–1605, penetration is from the Late Latin word penetrātiōn- (stem of penetrātiō ). See penetrate, -ion
Explanation
Penetration refers to entering or making your way through something. It's also a deep insight. When something penetrates, it’s going through something else, so penetration is an example of this happening. You could talk about the penetration of a jacket by a knife, or the penetration of a fortress by an army. When a basketball team pierces the other team's defenses, it's called penetration. Also, in-depth perception or insight is called penetration. Just like physical penetration goes deep into something, mental penetration implies deep understanding of an idea or situation.
Vocabulary lists containing penetration
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.
See Examples For:
Think of the return of BTS, then, as a test of K-pop’s lasting cultural penetration, particularly in the United States, which BTS has long treated as something of a second home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Globally, BEV penetration continues to trend higher, rising from 14% in the first quarter and tracking toward 18% in the second.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
But the attack also further revealed the startling US and Israeli intelligence penetration of Iran, a strategic weakness exposed in the 2025 war when Israel killed a succession of key figures in targeted strikes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
The paper is titled "Selective blood-brain barrier penetration and tumor targeting of nitrosylcobalamin in glioblastoma: Pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, and synergistic activity with trail and temozolomide."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 27, 2026
In general the effect of all this habitation of the soil is to aerate it and improve both its drainage and the penetration of water throughout the layers of plant growth.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
He later explained that he was using a definition employed by the Border Patrol that defines “operational control” as “the ability to detect, respond and interdict border penetrations in areas deemed as high priority.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
The U.S. government alerted software giant Microsoft to the email compromises that included penetrations of email accounts at the Commerce Department and State Department.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 24, 2023
“Little to none, compared to the extensive cyber penetrations and human spying activities,” the former senior intelligence officer told me.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2023
The CIA has suffered some disastrous penetrations of its spy networks in recent years.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2021
I could not, except by an elaborate drawing, give any idea of the sharp, dark, deep penetrations of the chisel into their snowy marble, but a single example is given in the opposite plate, fig.
From The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3), by John Ruskin
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.
