[syn: penetration, insight]
3. the act of entering into or through something;
- Example: "the penetration of upper management by women"
4. the ability to make way into or through something;
- Example: "the greater penetration of the new projectiles will result in greater injuries"
5. the depth to which something penetrates (especially the depth reached by a projectile that hits a target);
6. the act (by a man) of inserting his penis into the vagina of a woman;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Penetration \Pen"e*tra`tion\, n. [L. penetratio: cf. F.
p['e]n['e]tration.]
1. The act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering;
also, the act of mentally penetrating into, or
comprehending, anything difficult.
[1913 Webster]
And to each in ward part,
With gentle penetration, though unseen,
Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
A penetration into the difficulties of algebra.
--Watts.
[1913 Webster]
2. Acuteness; insight; sharp discoverment; sagacity; as, a
person of singular penetration. --Walpole.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Discernment; sagacity; acuteness; sharpness;
discrimination. See Discernment, and Sagacity.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
penetration
n 1: an attack that penetrates into enemy territory [syn:
penetration, incursion]
2: clear or deep perception of a situation [syn: penetration,
insight]
3: the act of entering into or through something; "the
penetration of upper management by women"
4: the ability to make way into or through something; "the
greater penetration of the new projectiles will result in
greater injuries"
5: the depth to which something penetrates (especially the depth
reached by a projectile that hits a target)
6: the act (by a man) of inserting his penis into the vagina of
a woman
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
127 Moby Thesaurus words for "penetration":
access, acuity, acumen, acupunctuation, acupuncture, acuteness,
admission, apperception, astuteness, bore, boring, broach,
cleverness, cogency, critical discernment, decoction, diffusion,
discernment, discrimination, drill hole, embedment, empiercement,
entrance, entree, entry, farseeingness, farsightedness, fixing,
flair, foresight, foresightedness, goring, graft, grafting,
imbuement, impaction, impactment, impalement, implantation, import,
importation, importing, impregnation, incision, incisiveness,
income, incoming, infiltration, infixion, infusion, ingoing,
ingress, ingression, injection, inoculation, input, inroad,
insertion, insight, insinuation, instillation, instillment, intake,
intelligence, interjection, interpenetration, interpolation,
introduction, introgression, intromission, intrusion, judgment,
keenness, lancing, leakage, longheadedness, longsightedness,
marination, overrunning, overspreading, overswarming, penetrating,
perception, perceptiveness, percipience, percolation, perforation,
perfusion, permeation, perspicaciousness, perspicacity,
perspicuity, perspicuousness, pervasion, piercing, pricking,
providence, punching, puncture, puncturing, quick-wittedness,
reception, sagaciousness, sagacity, saturation, seepage,
sensibility, sensitivity, sentience, shrewdness, skewering,
soaking, steeping, suffusion, terebration, tessellation,
transfixation, transfixion, transforation, transfusion, transplant,
transplantation, trenchancy, trepanning, trephining, understanding,
wit
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PENETRATION, crimes. The act of inserting the penis into the female organs
of generation. 9 Car. & Pa 118; S. C. 38 E. C. L. R. 63. See 8 Car. & Payne,
614; 34 E. C. L. R. 562; 5 C. & P. 321; S. C. 24 E, C. L. R. 339; 9 C. & P.
31 Id. 752; 38 E. C. L. R. 320. But in order to commit the crime of rape, it
is requisite that the penetration should be such as to rupture the hymen. 5
C. & P. 321.
2. This has been denied to be sufficient to constitute a rape without
emission. (q.v.) Bee, on this subject, 12 Co. 37; Hawk. bk 1, c. 41, s. 3; 1
Hale, P. C. 628; 1 East, P. C. 437, 8; Russ & Ry. C. C. 519; 6 C. & P. 351;
5 C. & P. 297, 321; S. C. 24 E. C. L. R. 339; 1 Chit. Med. Jur. 386 to 395;
1 Virg. Cas. 307; 4 Mood. Cr. Cas. 142, 337; 4 Car. & P. 249; 1 Par. & Fonb.
433; 2 Mood. & M. C. N. P. 122; 1 Russ. C. & M 560; 1 East, P. C. 437.