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What is "penetrative"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
penetrative
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a penetrative thinker
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Andy Saville, a bargain £150,000 buy from Hartlepool last season, was the player to prosper from Peschisllibo's penetrative play.
▪ The gunpowder weapons may have a lower range but their extra penetrative power makes them especially useful against heavily armoured foes.
▪ This is because thick lithosphere will tend to be more resistant to the effects of heat conduction and penetrative magmatism.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Penetrative

Penetrative \Pen"e*tra*tive\, a. [Cf. F. p['e]n['e]tratif.]

  1. Tending to penetrate; of a penetrating quality; piercing; as, the penetrative sun.

    His look became keen and penetrative.
    --Hawthorne.

  2. Having the power to affect or impress the mind or heart; impressive; as, penetrative shame.
    --Shak.

  3. Acute; discerning; sagacious; as, penetrative wisdom. ``The penetrative eye.''
    --Wordsworth.

    Led on by skill of penetrative soul.
    --Grainger.

Wiktionary
penetrative

a. 1 Of, pertaining to, or involving penetration 2 Having the ability to penetrate 3 Displaying insight or discrimination; acute

Related phrases:
WordNet
penetrative

  1. adj. having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; "an acute observer of politics and politicians"; "incisive comments"; "icy knifelike reasoning"; "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang"; "penetrating insight"; "frequent penetrative observations" [syn: acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, piercing, sharp]

  2. tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing; "a toxic penetrative spray applied to the surface"; "a cold penetrating wind"; "a penetrating odor" [syn: penetrating]

Usage examples of "penetrative".

Judging from his outward appearance only, few would have given Villiers credit for being the man of penetrative and almost classic refinement he really was,--he looked far more athletic than aesthetic.

Such dyes are very useful for dyeing heavily milled or felted fabrics, such as hat bodies for instance, as then the dye possesses greater penetrative properties and passes more into the substance of the fabric, which is, therefore, better dyed through.

Tip the crystals into the breech and close it, the magnetic field aligns them and the accelerator spits them out at penetrative speed.

They say that even if rocket propulsion units were ultimately built to reach a speed of 93,000 miles per second or more, interstellar space travel would still be impossible because at such a speed the minutest cosmic particles that struck the exterior of the space-ship would have the destructive and penetrative power of a bomb.