different between penetrable vs sievelike

English

Etymology

From Middle English penetrable, penytrable, from Old French penetrable, from Medieval Latin penetr?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?n?t??b?l/, /?p?nt??b?l/

Adjective

penetrable (comparative more penetrable, superlative most penetrable)

1. Capable of being penetrated, entered, or pierced. Also figuratively.
   • 1867: George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World

     On the east the high mountain-chain of Zagros, penetrable only in one or two places, forms a barrier of the most marked character, and is beyond a doubt the natural limit for which we are looking.

   • 1900: Arthur M. Mann, The Boer in Peace and War

     A Boer may know you, but it will take you some time to know him, and when a certain stage in your acquaintance is reached, you may begin to wonder whether his real nature is penetrable at all.

   • 1996: Peter Carruthers & Peter K. Smith, Theories of Theories of Mind

     A capacity is cognitively penetrable in this sense if that capacity is affected by the subject's knowledge or ignorance of the domain.

Antonyms

• impenetrable

Related terms

• penetrableness
• penetrably

Translations

References

• penetrable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• repentable

English

Alternative forms

• sieve-like

Etymology

sieve +? -like

Adjective

sievelike (comparative more sievelike, superlative most sievelike)

1. Resembling a sieve; thus, having holes through which fluids can pass

   a sievelike membrane

Synonyms

• ethmoid, ethmoidal