PENETRATING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Penetrating

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/pˈɛnətrˌeɪtɪŋ/ Listen

Penetrating

adjective

1.

Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions. Synonyms: acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrative, piercing, sharp. "Incisive comments" , "Icy knifelike reasoning" , "As sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang" , "Penetrating insight" , "Frequent penetrative observations"

2.

Tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing. Synonym: penetrative. "A cold penetrating wind" , "A penetrating odor"

Penetrate

verb

(past & past part. penetrated; pres. part. penetrating)

1.

Pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance. Synonym: perforate.

2.

Come to understand. Synonyms: bottom, fathom.

3.

Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions. Synonyms: click, come home, dawn, fall into place, get across, get through, sink in. "She was penetrated with sorrow"

4.

Enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members. Synonym: infiltrate.

5.

Make one's way deeper into or through.

6.

Insert the penis into the vagina or anus of.

7.

Spread or diffuse through. Synonyms: diffuse, imbue, interpenetrate, permeate, pervade, riddle. "Music penetrated the entire building" , "His campaign was riddled with accusations and personal attacks"

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Etymology of 'Penetrating'

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Penetrating" Quotes from Famous Books

... and in that instant the Churchwarden showed the most unexpected presence of mind. He quickly reached behind him and drew a small bottle out of his pocket and pulled out the cork and sprinkled a few drops of its contents on the ground before him. A sharp penetrating odour immediately filled the air; it was so intense that it made the tears come into Freddie's eyes; but what it did to the wild mob of imps was almost beyond belief. As they got their first whiff of it, they tumbled back over one another in a mad effort to get away; but they could not get away ...

— The Old Tobacco Shop - A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure • William Bowen

... however, she forgot her superior mood and enjoyed herself inordinately until supper-time. Just as she and Pink were starting for the refreshment room, she caught sight of a familiar graceful figure, standing apart from the crowd, watching her with level, penetrating eyes. ...

— Quin • Alice Hegan Rice

... night is approaching. A river of light streams through the arched windows of the houses of prayer, flooding the streets and penetrating into the hearts of the inhabitants. Young and old slowly wend their way to the synagogues, there to bow down before the Lord who delivered their ancestors from Egyptian bondage and who on this day ...

— Rabbi and Priest - A Story • Milton Goldsmith

... first brief look convinced Mr. Saltram that upon this point at least her lover had indulged in no loverlike exaggeration. There was a singular charm in the face; a higher, more penetrating loveliness than mere perfection of feature; a kind of beauty that would have been at once the delight and desperation of a painter—so fitting a subject for his brush, so utterly beyond the power of perfect reproduction, unless by one of those happy, almost accidental ...

— Fenton's Quest • M. E. Braddon

... the provinces, newspaper enterprise was penetrating into the colonies, and America took the lead. Small were the beginnings in the land where the freedom of the press was destined to attain its fullest development. America's first journal—the Boston News Letter—was printed at Boston ...

— Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, Issue 2, February, 1864 • Various

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