Penetrative

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 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 […]"

  2. 2
    Displaying insight or discrimination; acute; penetrating.
  3. 3
    That can penetrate opposition defences.
  4. 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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing wordnet
  2. 2
    having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
acutediscriminatingincisivekeenknifelikepenetrating

Example

More examples

"Sex doesn't have to be penetrative."

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.