[ breyk-throo ]
/ ˈbreɪkˌθru /
Save This Word!

a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.
Medicine/Medical. an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs in an individual despite their having received a vaccine, medication, or treatment: Covid breakthroughs are usually less severe than infections in unvaccinated people, indicating that the vaccine is still doing its job of combating the virus.
constituting a breakthrough: Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology. Critics called it a breakthrough film.
Medicine/Medical. relating to or being an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs as a breakthrough: In the original vaccine trial, 89% of breakthrough infections were with a particular family of virus strains.She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.
Question 1 of 7
Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of breakthrough

First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase break through

How to use breakthrough in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for breakthrough

break through

(intr) to penetrate
(intr, adverb) to achieve success, make a discovery, etc, esp after lengthy efforts
noun breakthrough
a significant development or discovery, esp in science
the penetration of an enemy's defensive position or line in depth and strength

Other Idioms and Phrases with breakthrough

break through

Penetrate a barrier or obstruction, as in They broke through the wall to get into the vault, or It won't be long before we break through the code and map all human genes. Used literally for going through a physical barrier since about 1400, this phrase began to be used figuratively in the late 1500s.
