PENETRATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Penetration

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/pˌɛnətrˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Penetration n.

The act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering; also, the act of mentally penetrating into, or comprehending, anything difficult. "And to each in ward part, With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep." "A penetration into the difficulties of algebra."

Acuteness; insight; sharp discoverment; sagacity; as, a person of singular penetration.

Synonyms: Discernment; sagacity; acuteness; sharpness; discrimination. See Discernment, and Sagacity.

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Etymology of 'Penetration'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Penetration" Quotes from Famous Books

... so? You see through all things with your penetration. Now I am calm. How fares it with Maria? My heart doth ache ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... scientific conditions of deduction and induction. The theory itself is compact and clear; its lineaments are completely Grecian. It presents, to one who will contemplate it with due allowance for its times, the characteristic quick-sightedness, penetration, and power of the Greek mind, fully vindicating for its author the title which has been conferred upon him by his European successors—the Father of Medicine—and perhaps inducing us to excuse the enthusiastic assertion of Galen, that we ought to reverence the ...

— History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) - Revised Edition • John William Draper

... likely, before many hours, to learn the fact of your midnight arrival at Polani's house; and as no orders were given for the preparation of this expedition to the island before that time, it will not need much penetration to conclude that you were the bearer of the news that led to the discovery of the maidens. Besides which, you accompanied the expedition, and acted as its guide to the hut. Part of this they will learn from the servants of the house, part of it they may get out from the sailors, ...

— The Lion of Saint Mark - A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century • G. A. Henty

... condition of New York working-women, because she has brought to the study of the subject not only great care but uncommon aptitude. She has made a close personal investigation, extending apparently over a long time; she has had the penetration to search many queer and dark corners which are not often thought of by similar explorers; and we suspect that, unlike too many philanthropists, she has the faculty of winning confidence and extracting the truth. She is sympathetic, but not a sentimentalist; she appreciates ...

— Prisoners of Poverty Abroad • Helen Campbell

... touch of the melodramatic in my pose and voice, for Maud smiled. Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone. It was this which had given poise and penetration to her own work and made her of worth to the world. The serious critic, with the sense of humour and the power of expression, must inevitably command the world's ear. And so it was that she had commanded. Her sense of humour was really the ...

— The Sea-Wolf • Jack London

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