/brayk"throoh'/ , n.
1. a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's front-line defense.
2. 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.
3. 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.
adj.
4. constituting a breakthrough: engineered with breakthrough technology; Critics called it a breakthrough film.
[ 1915-20; n. use of v. phrase break through ]