penetrative
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of penetrative
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English word from Medieval Latin word penetrātīvus. See penetrate, -ive
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.
Unless there are recurring, penetrative rains in August, the family will sell half of its herd.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2021
The report says mobile phones "reveal patterns of our daily personal and professional lives and enable penetrative insights into our actions, behaviour, beliefs, and state of mind".
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2020
Above all, alchemists strove to capture the fluid, penetrative properties of ‘mercury’.
From Nature • Apr. 28, 2020
The skin can be used to test the toxicity or irritation potential of a substance, and the penetrative qualities of active ingredients in products like cosmetics.
From Reuters • Nov. 13, 2019
Children are like birds of a social and loquacious disposition in their fondness for a set call, a penetrative cry or note, by means of which they can converse at long distances.
From Birds and Man by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)
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.
