penetrative

1. 1.

   having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions

   “an acute observer of politics and politicians”

   “incisive comments”

   “icy knifelike reasoning”

   “as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang”

   “penetrating insight”

   “frequent penetrative observations”

   Synonymsacutediscriminatingincisivekeenknifelikepenetratingpiercingsharp

   Similarperceptive
2. 2.

   tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing

   “a toxic penetrative spray applied to the surface”

   “a cold penetrating wind”

   “a penetrating odor”

   Synonymspenetrating

   Similarsharp

Questions about penetrative

What does penetrative mean?

penetrative means "having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in penetrative?

penetrative has 4 syllables: pe-ne-tra-tive. The stress falls on "ne".

What is another word for penetrative?

Close synonyms include acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is penetrative a common word?

penetrative is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.