breakthrough

Plural: breakthroughs

Noun

• a productive insight
• making an important discovery
• a penetration of a barrier such as an enemy's defense
• An advance through and past enemy lines.
• Any major progress; such as a great innovation or discovery that overcomes a significant obstacle.
• The penetration of the opposition's defence.
• The penetration of a separating wall or the remaining distance to an adjacent hollow (a crosscut in mining) or between two parts of a tunnel build from both ends; knockthrough.
• The emergence or one or more symptoms of a condition despite medication or other medical treatment.

Adj

• Characterized by major progress or overcoming some obstacle.
• Involving the contraction of a disease by a person with a decreased susceptibility, such as a person who has been vaccinated to help prevent that disease.

Examples

• a breakthrough technological advance
• Albert Einstein is credited with making some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern physics.
• He was managing his discomfort with common painkillers, but one morning he had breakthrough pain causing him to miss work.
• She was on two antiepileptics for five years but then had a breakthrough seizure.

Synonyms

discovery, find