penetrate
Verb
- pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance
- "The bullet penetrated her chest"
- come to understand
- become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
- "she was penetrated with sorrow"
- enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members
- make one's way deeper into or through
- "The hikers did not manage to penetrate the dense forest"
- insert the penis into the vagina or anus of
- "Did the molester penetrate the child?"
- spread or diffuse through
- "music penetrated the entire building"
- To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.
- To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.
- To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to move deeply.
- To infiltrate an enemy to gather intelligence.
- To insert the penis into an orifice, such as a vagina, mouth, or anus.
- To move a piece past the defending pieces of one's opponent.
Examples
- a male elephant comes up and penetrates the female
- I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.
- Light penetrates darkness.
- to penetrate one's heart with pity
Origin / Etymology
From Latin penētrātus, perfect passive participle of penētrō (“to put, set, or place within, enter, pierce, penetrate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from penes (“within, with”) by analogy to intrō (“to go in, enter”). Compare French pénétrer.
Synonyms
bottom, click, come home, dawn, diffuse, fall into place, fathom, get across, get through, imbue, infiltrate, interpenetrate, perforate, permeate, pervade, riddle, sink in
Scrabble Score: 11
penetrate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordpenetrate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
penetrate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary