Word.ws English Dictionary

penetrative

penetrative adjective: that can or does physically penetrate something; piercing, penetrating.

Adjective

penetrative (comparative more penetrative, superlative most penetrative)

  1. That can or does physically penetrate something; piercing, penetrating.
    • Would'ſt thou be window'd in great Rome, and ſee / Thy Maſter thus with pleacht Armes, bending downe / His corrigible necke, his face ſubdu'de / To penetratiue ſhame […]c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • [T]he penetrative Sun, / His Force deep-darting to the dark Retreat / Of Vegetation, sets the steaming Power / At large […].a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC
  2. Displaying insight or discrimination; acute; penetrating.
  3. That can penetrate opposition defences.
  4. Pertaining to sexual activity involving penetration by the penis (or similar object).
    • I've been in a relationship for nearly a year and we have an amazing sex life as is, but we've never managed penetrative sex.2013 August 12, Sexual Healing, The Guardian

penetrative meaning in Bengali

penetrative in Bengali

ভেদ্য, তীক্ষ্ণ, বিচক্ষণতা প্রদর্শন করে, গভীর

Antonyms of penetrative

Forms of penetrative

comparativemore penetrative
superlativemost penetrative

Origin of penetrative

From Middle English penetratyve, penetratif, from Medieval Latin penetrativus, from (the participle stem of) Latin penetrāre (“to penetrate”).

Words formed from penetrative

Questions about penetrative

What does penetrative mean?
Penetrative means that can or does physically penetrate something; piercing, penetrating.
What is penetrative in Bengali?
Penetrative in Bengali is ভেদ্য, তীক্ষ্ণ, বিচক্ষণতা প্রদর্শন করে. See Penetrative meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is penetrative?
Penetrative is an adjective.

Words near penetrative in the dictionary

  1. penetration lines
  2. penetration pricing
  3. penetration test
  4. penetration tests
  5. penetrations
  6. penetrative
  7. penetratively
  8. penetrativeness
  9. penetrativities
  10. penetrativity
  11. penetrator

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penetrative (page history and authors); penetrative (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-penetrative.wav.

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