1Succeed in forcing a way into or through (a thing)

那块弹片穿透了他的头和胸膛。

深入到地心的隧道。

1. 1.1 (of a man) insert the penis into the vagina or anus of (a sexual partner).
   把阴茎插入（性伴侣的）阴道（或肛门）
2. 1.2 Infiltrate (an enemy group or rival organization) in order to spy on it.
   为刺探而打入，渗入（敌人或对手的组织）
   they feared that their council had been penetrated by informers

   Example sentencesExamples

   • If there wasn't such reporting, do we need to do more to beef up our intelligence so that we can penetrate whatever organization was responsible for this outrage.
   • The security goal is to stop them before they penetrate the security zone with the intent to blow up the city's waterfront.
   • But fascism has never penetrated the organised working class movement.
   • All of the aid in the world cannot penetrate political systems which are rife with corruption and nepotism.
   • Obviously, these are very difficult groups to penetrate.
   • The raiders knew where the bullion was and went straight for it but could not penetrate the security area.
   • They have an ability to penetrate some of these organizations much better, more easily than we do.
   • The raid was more evidence that the dissident groups have been thoroughly penetrated by the intelligence services.
   • Each part tends to operate independently, making the organization difficult to penetrate.
   • We've got to be down and dirty in our intelligence work and do a better job at penetrating these organizations.
   • New Orleans was perhaps distinctive in the extreme savagery of its ghettos, and the inability of civic organizations to penetrate poor areas.
   • Unfortunately, he did not have full access, nor ability, to penetrate the more remote regions of the country.
   • When penetrated, the system locks down the lobby and alerts security.
   • In the final analysis, the one place not even the most modern and sophisticated intelligence systems can penetrate is the human mind.
   • Secondly, when you're dealing with external parties there are tremendous technical problems in penetrating their many different firewalls.
   • It is a sobering argument and one whose subtlety may not penetrate the political/media filter that permits only sound bites and slogans to pass through.
   • Firewall is a software which blocks suspicious potentially dangerous connections to preventing viruses from network to penetrate into your system.
   • No matter the level of US security, it can be and is penetrated.
   • There is probably no organization in the world that cannot be penetrated given enough time, willpower and resources.
   • They could be exploits that would allow military intelligence to penetrate military systems.

   Synonyms

   infiltrate, slip into, sneak into, creep into, insinuate oneself into, worm one's way into, make inroads into, invade, intrude on, overrun
3. 1.3 (of a company) begin to sell its products in (a particular market or area)
   （公司产品）打进，打入（某市场或地区）
   Honda has succeeded in penetrating Western motorcycle markets

   本田已经成功地打进西方摩托车市场。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In the first quarter of this year, the order placement from China increased to around 120,000 tons partly because the company stressed penetrating the Chinese market.
   • Everything seems fine, until sales suddenly hit a ceiling that the company cannot penetrate.
   • But if Scottish companies are going to penetrate the market, they have to become a lot more aggressive with their marketing.
   • Rather than lowering tariffs, developed countries continue to subsidize their farmers to penetrate developing markets with cheaper products.
   • The success of the producer in penetrating new markets may be affected as much by limitations on where and when goods can be sold as by constraints on marketing.
   • You can no longer expect to penetrate these high-rise markets exclusively from an exporting factory in the UK, for example.
   • But it's beginning to penetrate the housing market; I have solar panels on my roof now for example.
   • However, that scenario is slowly changing as artistic works are now beginning to penetrate the international market.
   • He said there was need to certify the forests in Zambia if the forest products were to penetrate the European market.
   • I will do my best to penetrate the Senegalese market with this new product.
   • Only 1 per cent of the market has been penetrated so far.
   • After an early beginning, it collapsed in the 1920s as British and US film producers and distributors penetrated the local market.
   • The full year results, which are due on Monday, should reveal just how effective the company has been in penetrating the market.
   • Determine how this initiative is going to help your firm make more money, sell more products, penetrate new markets, or increase shareholder wealth.
   • I assume most mothers there use cloth nappies, but perhaps disposables are beginning to penetrate that market.
   • On the wider front, we aim to boost our educational broadcasting by penetrating the burgeoning market of general knowledge programmes.
   • Many low-grade products are penetrating the Thai market and were popular among local people because of lower prices.
   • The weakness of sterling is another challenge for the company, as imports penetrate the Irish market from the North and Britain.
   • He said that one of our key selling points to companies who wish to penetrate the EU markets is the fact that we are committed to remain as active and central players within the European Union.
   • When they try to penetrate a new market or introduce a new product, they often take members of the media on expensive trips so that they can get their stories into the papers and onto the airwaves.
4. 1.4 Succeed in understanding or gaining insight into (something complex or mysterious)
   洞察，了解（复杂或神秘事情）
   a magician who seemed to have penetrated the mysteries of nature

   一位好像已经洞察自然界秘密的魔术师。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Having put that subject to bed and feeling smug about my penetrating analysis, I didn't think about it again until I went to a capital city.
   • It can mean, neutrally, the kind of art which aims for verisimilitude, or it can mean one which succeeds in penetrating to the truth of how things are.
   • Though monumentally long, it rarely drags, and today feels less like a finger-pointing exercise than a penetrating study of human nature.
   • Though some essays are certainly stronger, or more penetrating than others are, each brings something new to the table, and enhances the dialogue in some way.
   • This said, these are poems that more than adequately repay the effort given to penetrate their meaning.
   • It occurred to me then that he was almost completely sober, and his eyes seemed to almost penetrate me.
   • I felt I had finally penetrated William's menacing mask and gained some understanding of the workings of his mind.
   • Those of us who have tried to penetrate the often baffling complexities of modern music have often had cause to be grateful to him for unravelling its mysteries.
   • The revolution troubled me because of the incredible dynamic vigour that penetrated you completely, exceeded your imagination, unfolded in your own inner world.
   • His attempts at penetrating the cultural and religious complexities encountered along the way are far less successful.
   • I simply wrote the truth, and relished the penetrating sharpness, the harsh beauty of reality.
   • So true was he to his own little light that many dismissed him as a crank and made little effort to penetrate his prose or make sense of his ideas.
   • The key often symbolizes a mystery about to be penetrated or a stage on our pathway to discovery and enlightenment.
   • Comprehension and parallel understanding can and do penetrate from one means of communication to another.

   Synonyms

   understand, comprehend, apprehend, fathom, grasp, perceive, discern, get to the bottom of, solve, resolve, make out, make sense of, interpret, puzzle out, work out, figure out, unravel, decipher, make head or tail of
5. 1.5no object Be fully understood or realized by someone.
   被某人完全理解（或意识到）
   as his words penetrated, she saw a mental picture of him with Dawn

   随着对他的话的理解，她脑海里出现了他和道恩在一起的画面。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • ‘His comments in workshops were few but invariably penetrating,’ Scott said.
   • She's pretty, he thinks unexpectedly, but the thought is lost as her words penetrate.
   • For the first time I saw this man, whose words penetrated like a rapier thrust, in an entirely different light.
   • Coupled with Dowd's interviewing technique, which is about as penetrating as a charity worker soliciting for funds by rattling a tin, the outcome is rather unsatisfactory.
   • My eyes are of a light violet colour like the twilight at dawn, observant and penetrating.
   • Arthur's eyes fixed onto the paper, finding an understanding there while Gawaine's words would not penetrate.
   • It's sunny again but there's a fresh, penetrating wind, too fresh and far too penetrating to risk sparking off the cold again before it's properly finished.
   • Mel echoed, letting the words slowly penetrate.
   • Only when his teenage children and his siblings used precisely the same words to describe him did the message penetrate.
   • I mean, obviously this evidence is more penetrating, more reliable, than, say, testimony of an eye witness at trial.
   • Your website is penetrating, poignant and articulate.
   • The cold anger Geoff felt was pushed aside by concern as her words penetrated.

   Synonyms

   be understood, be comprehended, be taken in, be grasped, become clear