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Penetrate vs Touch - What's the difference?

penetrate | touch |

As verbs the difference between penetrate and touch

is that penetrate is to enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce while touch is primarily physical senses.

As a noun touch is

an act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.

penetrate

English

(Penetration)

Verb

(penetrat)
  • To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.
  • Light penetrates darkness.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1879, title=The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph
  • , author=Th Du Moncel, page=166, publisher=Harper , passage=He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.}}
  • (figuratively) To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.
  • I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.
  • * Ray
  • things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate
  • To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to move deeply.
  • to penetrate one's heart with pity
  • * M. Arnold
  • The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style.
    (Shakespeare)
  • To infiltrate an enemy to gather intelligence.
  • To insert the penis into an opening, such as a vagina or anus. (rfex)
  • Derived terms

    * penetration * penetrable

    touch

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • Primarily physical senses.
  • # (label) To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with.
  • # (label) To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect.
  • # (label) To come into physical contact, or to be in physical contact.
  • # (label) To make physical contact with a thing.
  • # (label) To physically disturb; to interfere with, molest, or attempt to harm through contact.
  • #* (Bible), (w) xxvi. 28, 29
  • Let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee.
  • # (label) To physically affect in specific ways implied by context.
  • # (label) To consume, or otherwise use.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond
  • # (label) Of a ship or its passengers: to land, to make a short stop (at).
  • #* 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) :
  • Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander — from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain — this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.
  • #
  • #* 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society (2012), page 189:
  • But in fact the English kings of the seventeenth century usually began to touch form the day of their accession, without waiting for any such consecration.
  • #
  • # To fasten; to take effect; to make impression.
  • #* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Strong waters pierce metals, and will touch' upon gold, that will not ' touch upon silver.
  • # (label) To bring (a sail) so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
  • # To be brought, as a sail, so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
  • # (label) To keep the ship as near (the wind) as possible.
  • Primarily non-physical senses.
  • # (label) To imbue or endow with a specific quality.
  • #
  • #*, I.2.4.vii:
  • Next to sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear; for besides those terrors which I have before touched ,which much trouble many of us.
  • # (label) To deal with in speech or writing; briefly to speak or write (on'' or ''upon something).
  • #* 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde)
  • "Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last time I hope," continued the doctor, "there is one point I should like you to understand."
  • # (label) To concern, to have to do with.
  • #* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) V:
  • Men of Israhell take hede to youreselves what ye entende to do as touchinge these men.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • #* 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Penance’, The Toys of Peace , Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), p. 423:
  • And now it seemed he was engaged in something which touched them closely, but must be hidden from their knowledge.
  • # (label) To affect emotionally; to bring about tender or painful feelings in.
  • #
  • #
  • # (label) To obtain money from, usually by borrowing (from a friend).
  • #
  • # (label) To be on the level of; to approach in excellence or quality.
  • #* 1928 , , "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in (Lord Peter Views the Body) ,
  • There was his mistress, Maria Morano. I don't think I've ever seen anything to touch her, and when you work for the screen [as I do] you're apt to have a pretty exacting standard of female beauty.
  • #* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • On Sunday afternoon it was as dark as night, with barely room for two riders abreast on a gradient that touches 20%.
  • # To mark (a file or document) as having been modified.
  • To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I mean to touch your love indeed.
  • To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • The lines, though touched but faintly, are drawn right.
  • (label) To infect; to affect slightly.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • To strike; to manipulate; to play on.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • [They] touched their golden harps.
  • To perform, as a tune; to play.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • A person in the royal retinue touched a light and lively air on the flageolet.
  • To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • No decree of mine,[to] touch with lightest moment of impulse his free will.

    Derived terms

    * touch a nerve * touch base * touch bottom * touch down * touch off * touch on * touch the hem of someone's garment * touch up * touch wood

    Noun

    (es)
  • An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
  • Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
  • The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
  • With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
  • The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.
  • He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch .
  • A distinguishing feature or characteristic.
  • Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.
  • A little bit; a small amount.
  • Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Madam, I have a touch of your condition.
  • The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.
  • He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch .
  • A relationship of close communication or understanding.
  • He promised to keep in touch while he was away.
  • The ability to perform a task well; aptitude.
  • I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 29 , author=Jon Smith , title=Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Rovers' hopes of pulling off one of the great European shocks of all time lasted just 10 minutes before Spurs finally found their scoring touch .}}
  • Act or power of exciting emotion.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Not alone / The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches , / Do strongly speak to us.
  • An emotion or affection.
  • * Hooker
  • a true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy
  • Personal reference or application.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.
  • A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.
  • * Dryden
  • Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.
  • A brief essay.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch .
  • A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Now do I play the touch .
  • * Fuller
  • a neat new monument of touch and alabaster
  • Examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.
  • * Carew
  • equity, the true touch of all laws
  • * Shakespeare
  • friends of noble touch
  • The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.
  • a heavy touch''', or a light '''touch
  • The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.
  • The children's game of tag.
  • Derived terms

    * common touch * in touch * light touch * lose one's touch * lose touch * out of touch * soft touch * touch football * touch-kick * touchless * touch oneself * touch-paper * touch piece * touch-type

    Statistics

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