breakthrough

[ breyk-throo ]

noun

1. a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.
2. an act or instance of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction; the overcoming of a stalemate:

   The president reported a breakthrough in the treaty negotiations.

3. any significant or sudden advance, development, achievement, or increase, as in scientific knowledge or diplomacy, that removes a barrier to progress:

   The jet engine was a major breakthrough in air transport.

4. 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.

adjective

1. constituting a breakthrough: Critics called it a breakthrough film.

   Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology.

   Critics called it a breakthrough film.

2. Medicine/Medical. relating to or being an infection, disease, disorder, or condition that occurs as a breakthrough: She experienced disabling breakthrough pain despite the high dose of painkillers she was taking.

   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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of breakthrough¹

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

Example Sentences

The breakthrough paves the way for psychosis treatments targeting symptoms that current medications miss.

From Science Daily

As a resident physician in internal medicine and medical historian focused on addiction, I believe this data represents a tremendous breakthrough in the field of addiction treatment.

From Salon

Described in a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, this breakthrough offers new insights on an extreme phase of stellar evolution, and one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics.

From Science Daily

This breakthrough could pave the way for future vaccines or anti-malaria treatments.

From Science Daily

The test opens up possibilities for new research breakthroughs on Alzheimer's disease, including its genetic profile and its prevalence across global populations.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• boost
• development
• discovery
• finding
• gain
• hike
• improvement
• leap
• progress