PENETRATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does penetrate mean? 

• PENETRATE (verb)
  The verb PENETRATE has 7 senses:

1. pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance

2. come to understand

3. become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

4. enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members

5. make one's way deeper into or through

6. insert the penis into the vagina or anus of

7. spread or diffuse through

  Familiarity information: PENETRATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PENETRATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they penetrate    ... he / she / it penetrates   
Past simple: penetrated   
Past participle: penetrated   
-ing form: penetrating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

penetrate; perforate

Context example:

The bullet penetrated her chest

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

come in; enter; get in; get into; go in; go into; move into (to come or go into)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "penetrate"):

cut (penetrate injuriously)

ooze through (run slowly and gradually)

force; storm (take by force)

immerse; plunge (thrust or throw into)

grain; ingrain (thoroughly work in)

filter; percolate; permeate; sink in (pass through)

tunnel (force a way through)

pierce (cut or make a way through)

pierce; thrust (penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument)

pierce (make a hole into)

honeycomb (penetrate thoroughly and into every part)

diffuse; imbue; interpenetrate; penetrate; permeate; pervade; riddle (spread or diffuse through)

creep in; sneak in (enter surreptitiously)

poke into (enter briefly)

foray (briefly enter enemy territory)

break (pierce or penetrate)

strike (pierce with force)

interpenetrate; permeate (penetrate mutually or be interlocked)

dig into; poke into; probe (examine physically with or as if with a probe)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

penetrator (an intruder who passes into or through (often by overcoming resistance))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come to understand

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

bottom; fathom; penetrate

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

penetration (clear or deep perception of a situation)

penetrative (having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

click; come home; dawn; fall into place; get across; get through; penetrate; sink in

Context example:

she was penetrated with sorrow

Cause:

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Enter a group or organization in order to spy on the members

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

infiltrate; penetrate

Context example:

The student organization was infiltrated by a traitor

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

fall in; get together; join (become part of; become a member of a group or organization)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make one's way deeper into or through

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The hikers did not manage to penetrate the dense forest

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

advance; go on; march on; move on; pass on; progress (move forward, also in the metaphorical sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

penetration (the ability to make way into or through something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Insert the penis into the vagina or anus of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

Did the molester penetrate the child?

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

enter; infix; insert; introduce (put or introduce into something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

penetration (the act (by a man) of inserting his penis into the vagina of a woman)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Spread or diffuse through

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

diffuse; imbue; interpenetrate; penetrate; permeate; pervade; riddle

Context example:

His campaign was riddled with accusations and personal attacks

Hypernyms (to "penetrate" is one way to...):

penetrate; perforate (pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "penetrate"):

spiritise; spiritize (imbue with a spirit)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

penetrative (tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing)

 Context examples 

Every affair of life around him that penetrated through his senses immediately related itself to "work performed."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A glance at his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the case of autoimmune uveitis, immune cells (T cells) are thought to penetrate through the blood-ocular barrier.

(In uveitis, bacteria in gut may instruct immune cells to attack the eye, NIH)

Prior to administration amotosalen is added to plasma and platelets, then in vivo the agent penetrates pathogens and targets DNA and RNA.

(Amotosalen Hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

An artifact resulting from absorpsion of lower energy photons as the beam penetrates through a tissue.

(Beam Hardening Artifact, NCI Thesaurus)

It was more a feeling of duty—a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this place.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It penetrated deep into the land, and the tide, setting in, drifted us under the shelter of the point.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It is clear that it is all thickly wooded, and it would take months to penetrate it and to learn the relations of one part to another.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The old clerk with the wig, whose name was Mr. Tiffey, had been down on business several times in the course of his career, and had on each occasion penetrated to the breakfast-parlour.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Cells do not penetrate the basement membrane.

(Benign Conditions of the Mouse Intestinal Tract, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)