Word.ws English Dictionary

penetrating

Syllables: pen·e·trat·ing/ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪtɪŋ/

penetrating adjective: able to pierce or penetrate. Also the present participle and gerund of penetrate.

Adjective

penetrating (comparative more penetrating, superlative most penetrating)

  1. Able to pierce or penetrate
    • The skunk produces a penetrating odor.
    • As the rest of the film was made on location in the railway yards of Havre and not in a studio, and was given a sound-track of penetrating vividness, this whole production gives the closest possible ring of truth of any film about railways.1958 February, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 89
  2. Looking deeply into; piercing
    • He had a very penetrating pair of brown eyes.
  3. Demonstrating acute or keen understanding
    • His novel shows a penetrating insight into the criminal mind.

Also used as

penetrating is also the present participle and gerund of penetrate.

penetrating meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Persian

penetrating in Hindi

भेदना

penetrating in Tamil

ஊடுருவ

penetrating in Telugu

చొచ్చుకుపోతుంది

penetrating in Persian

able to pierce or penetrate
نافذ nâfez

Examples of penetrating in a sentence

  • While dealing with this world, one must cultivate a penetrating, clear and unsullied this-worldliness.
  • Harsh ratcheting sounds came from outside the SUV, penetrating the constant feed from the military band radio.
  • With light penetrating to the lake bottom, beds of seaweed flourished where little had grown before.

All 29 example sentences with penetrating

Forms of penetrating

comparativemore penetrating
superlativemost penetrating

Words formed from penetrating

Phrases with penetrating

Questions about penetrating

What does penetrating mean?
Penetrating means able to pierce or penetrate.
What is penetrating in Hindi?
Penetrating in Hindi is भेदना. See Penetrating meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is penetrating?
Penetrating is an adjective.
How do you pronounce penetrating?
Penetrating is pronounced /ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪtɪŋ/.

Words near penetrating in the dictionary

  1. penetratee
  2. penetratees
  3. penetrates
  4. penetratest
  5. penetratin
  6. penetrating
  7. penetrating fluid
  8. penetrating fluids
  9. penetrating oil
  10. penetrating oils
  11. penetratingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penetrating (page history and authors); penetrating (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penetrating (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penetrating (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-penetrating.ogg.

Cite this entry: “penetrating.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penetrating. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.