3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Penetrating \Pen"e*tra`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.
From WordNet r 1.6 [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" [syn: {acute}, {discriminating}, {incisive},
{keen}, {knifelike}, {penetrative}, {piercing}, {sharp}]
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