breakthrough
Americannoun
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a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's frontline defense.
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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.
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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.
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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
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constituting a breakthrough: Critics called it a breakthrough film.
Their products are engineered with breakthrough technology.
Critics called it a breakthrough film.
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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.
Etymology
Origin of breakthrough
First recorded in 1915–20; noun use of verb phrase break through
Explanation
An amazing discovery or a huge amount of progress can be called a breakthrough. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 was a breakthrough for modern medicine. A personal breakthrough might be overcoming your fear of spiders once and for all. A bigger breakthrough, one that affects many people, is the invention of indoor plumbing. There's a sense of suddenness and drama associated with most breakthroughs. The word started out with a military meaning of literally "breaking through a barrier" in 1918. By the 1930s, it came to have the second meaning of "abrupt solution."
Vocabulary lists containing breakthrough
NAEP Test Words
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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Content Summary 5.4: The Second Industrial Revolution
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his interview with Barron’s, Fitzsimons highlighted Google’s quantum error correction breakthrough at the end of 2024, which marked a turning point for the industry.
From Barron's • May 5, 2026
These breakthrough medications converted HIV from a death sentence into a manageable chronic illness, saving millions of lives.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026
Her breakthrough came in 2023 when she had the likes of More Than Looks, Vahva and She Feels Pretty.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2026
Rugby success spawning mainstream breakthrough names has been patchy.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
Motion pictures were to be the artwork of the future, a technological breakthrough that stuttered into life just after his death, the first ever moving picture, Louis Le Prince’s Roundhay Garden Scene, dating from 1888.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
