break through

verb

1. intr to penetrate
2. intr, adverb to achieve success, make a discovery, etc, esp after lengthy efforts

noun

1. a significant development or discovery, esp in science
2. the penetration of an enemy's defensive position or line in depth and strength

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

The culture is flooded with talented creative types, most of whom struggle fruitlessly to break through.

From The Daily Beast

“I was good enough to keep hanging around, but never good enough to break through to the majors,” he says.

From The Daily Beast

Police squadrons had to form a “flying wedge” to break through the crowd to rescue blacks besieged in the park.

From The Daily Beast

With the dekiltered surrealism Harold brought to that telling, he'd sometimes break through to what can only be called Art.

From The Daily Beast

And yet if the selfie is the most idealized image of the self, then Cubitt has worked to break through that frozen representation.

From The Daily Beast

Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal.

From Project Gutenberg

Anyhow, my line is fairly strong, so that if it is not over they will not break through here.

From Project Gutenberg

He had an impulse to break through things, to fling obstacles aside, to hurl down all that intervened; and yet he hesitated.

From Project Gutenberg

He realized how strong must be the sense of comradeship in Mr. Cornelius to break through his habits of tenacious secrecy.

From Project Gutenberg

They could break through the walls of their stables, and no ordinary fence could withstand them.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• arrive
• come
• come out
• crop up
• develop
• emerge
• materialize
• occur
• pop up
• present
• show
• show up
• surface
• turn out
• turn up