penetration

American  

[pen-i-trey-shuhn] / ˌpɛn ɪˈtreɪ ʃən /

noun

penetrations plural

1. the act or power of penetrating.

2. mental acuteness, discernment, or insight.

   a scholar of rare penetration.

   Synonyms:

   profundity, depth, discrimination, perception, understanding

3. the obtaining of a share of a market for some commodity or service.

4. the extension, usually peaceful, of the influence of one nation or culture into the affairs of another.

5. a military attack that penetrates into enemy territory.

6. Gunnery. the depth to which a projectile goes into the target.

7. the measure of relative depth of field of a telescope or microscope, especially a binocular microscope.

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penetration British  

/ ˌpɛnɪˈtreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of penetrating

2. the ability or power to penetrate

3. keen insight or perception

4. military an offensive manoeuvre that breaks through an enemy's defensive position

5. 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

6. another name for depth of field

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpenetration
  noun
• prepenetration
  noun
• self-penetration
  noun
• transpenetration
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• penetrations
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

penetration penetrations

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

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

EV penetration is relatively low External link in Argentina, partly due to a lack of charging infrastructure.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

Another tailwind will be a "healthy launch pipeline", says Nomura, which expects EV penetration in India's passenger vehicle market to reach 9% by 2030.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

“Your cancer is not going away, Hazel. But we’ve seen people live with your level of tumor penetration for a long time.”

From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

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

“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

Gu had been working as a spy inside the KMT and, when uncovered, defected and revealed large-scale spy penetrations.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 24, 2021

Edith was much amused to find how strangely mistaken was this authoritative lady as to her intuitions, how inevitably à faux with her penetrations and her instinctive guesses.

From Love at Second Sight by Leverson, Ada

Related Words

• infiltration
• seepage