penetrating : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: penetrating	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for penetrating
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
penetrating 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" Synonym(s): acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp 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" Synonym(s): penetrative, penetrating
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Penetrating \Pen"etra`ting\, a. 1. Having the power of entering, piercing, or pervading; sharp; subtile; penetrative; as, a penetrating* odor. 2. Acute; discerning; sagacious; quick to discover; as, a penetrating mind.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Penetrate \Pen"e*trate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penetrated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Penetrating}.] [L. penetratus, p. p. of penetrare to penetrate; akin to penitus inward, inwardly, and perh. to pens with, in the power of, penus store of food, innermost part of a temple.] 1. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as, light penetrates darkness. 2. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply; as, to penetrate one's heart with pity. --Shak. The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style. --M. Arnold. 3. To pierce into by the mind; to arrive at the inner contents or meaning of, as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand. Things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate. --Ray.