penetration

plural penetrations

1. countableuncountableThe act of penetrating something.First known use 15th c.
2. countableuncountableThe insertion of the penis (or similar object) during sexual intercourse.First known use 17th c.

   Any penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.

   1 more example

   A person (A) commits an offence if— (a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis, (b) B does not consent to the penetration, and (c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

   2003, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 1(1)”, in Sexual Offences Act 2003ᵂⁱᵏⁱˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ, page 1

3. countableuncountableThe act of penetrating a given situation with the mind or faculties; perception, discernment.First known use 17th c.

   I have no respect for the penetration of any man who can read the report of that conversation, and still call the principal in it insane.

   1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown

   1 more example

   […] my observations of her looks and actions became acutely sharpened, and that to a degree, which, notwithstanding my efforts to conceal it, could not escape her penetration.

   1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 46

4. countableuncountableThe act of progressing or moving forward through or into something.

   Arsenal lacked urgency and penetration in a lazy, lacklustre opening half, sucked in by Forest's strategy of sitting back in blocks of defence waiting to hit them on the counter.

   2024 January 30, Phil McNulty, “Nottingham Forest 1-2 Arsenal: Gunners in title race after they close gap to leaders Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

5. countableuncountableblackjackA number or fraction that represents how many cards/decks will be dealt before shuffling, in contrast to the total number of cards/decks in play.
6. countableuncountablebusinessThe proportion of the target audience who buy or use the specified product or service.

   The electrification of the lines radiating from Casablanca originated with the policy of economic penetration and conciliation pursued by Marshal Lyautey for the pacification of Morocco.

   1950 March, “The Why and the Wherefore: Railway Electrification in Morocco”, in Railway Magazine, page 214