breakthrough

Pluralbreakthroughs

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A major advance, such as an innovation or discovery that overcomes a significant obstacle.

   The lab announced a breakthrough that could change how we store energy.

   After months of dead ends, the engineers finally achieved a breakthrough.

   Similaradvance, discovery, innovation, leap, milestone

   Oppositesetback

2. 2
   adjective

   Marked by major progress or by the overcoming of a significant obstacle.

   Her breakthrough discovery reshaped the entire field of genetics.

   The company unveiled a breakthrough design at the conference.

   Similargroundbreaking, pioneering, revolutionary, innovative

   Oppositeincremental, derivative

   Note

   The word is built from break and through, the same way German Durchbruch and Dutch doorbraak are put together: literally a "through-break." As an adjective it sits before its noun, as in a breakthrough technological advance or a breakthrough design. It does not compare: something is a breakthrough or it is not, so "more breakthrough" and "most breakthrough" are out.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   An advance that pushes through and past enemy lines.

   The general planned a breakthrough at the weakest point in the line.

   The sudden breakthrough split the defending forces in two.

   Similarbreach, penetration

   Note

   Here the word's two halves are meant literally: an attacking force breaks the enemy line and then goes through it. The "past" matters. A breakthrough is not a dent or a foothold in the enemy position but a passage beyond it. The sporting sense borrows the same picture for a defense on the field.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A play that penetrates the opposing team's defense.

   A sudden breakthrough by the midfielder caught the defenders off guard.

   The team's breakthrough in the final minutes sealed the match.

   Note

   Football reporting pairs this sense with a favorite verb: a side finds the breakthrough. Jon Smith's BBC Sport report of Tottenham against Shamrock Rovers (2011) has Spurs controlling the first half "without finding the breakthrough their dominance deserved." Used this way, with the, it means the decisive opening against a stubborn defense, the one the attacking side has been working toward.

5. 5
   adjective

   Describing infection that occurs in a person with reduced susceptibility, such as someone vaccinated against that disease.

   Several breakthrough infections appeared during the winter surge.

   The clinic tracked every breakthrough case to study the new variant.

   Note

   An immunologist's word that rarely travels alone: it pairs with infection and case. In 2022, Omicron was causing breakthrough cases among people who had been vaccinated or previously infected. The protection that gets breached need not be a vaccine, though. Children kept on preventive antibiotics can have breakthrough urine infections too. What defines the term is the defense already in place, not the disease.

6. 6
   nouncountablebefore a noun

   The appearance of one or more symptoms of a condition despite ongoing medication or treatment.

   A breakthrough of seizures prompted the doctor to adjust the dosage.

   She experienced a breakthrough of anxiety even on the new treatment.

   Similarrecurrence, flare-up

   Note

   Clinicians mostly use it as a modifier: breakthrough pain, a breakthrough seizure. Each names a symptom that gets past a treatment already in use, whether common painkillers or a pair of antiepileptics. Keep it apart from the infection sense. There, a new illness gets past reduced susceptibility such as a vaccine. Here, a condition already under treatment shows itself again.

   She was on two antiepileptics for five years but then had a breakthrough seizure.

   He was managing his discomfort with common painkillers, but one morning he had breakthrough pain causing him to miss work.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The penetration of a separating wall, or the meeting point where two tunnel sections driven from opposite ends finally connect.

   The breakthrough between the two headings was off by only a few centimeters.

   Surveyors aligned both headings so the breakthrough would meet precisely.

   Note

   Tunnelers and miners use it for the moment two excavations meet. That can be a crosscut holing into an adjacent hollow, or two headings driven from opposite ends finally joining. The word can also name the distance still left to cut, so a breakthrough can lie ahead of the crew as well as be achieved. Knockthrough is the trade synonym.

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