Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An advance, especially at another's expense; an encroachment.
- noun A reduction or diminishment.
- noun A hostile invasion; a raid.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make an inroad into; invade.
- To make an inroad; encroach; depredate.
- noun A predatory or hostile incursion; a raid by public enemies; a temporary or desultory invasion.
- noun Forcible entrance; powerful or sudden influx or incursion; forcible or insidious encroachment.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The entrance of an enemy into a country with purposes of hostility; a sudden or desultory incursion or invasion; raid; encroachment.
- transitive verb obsolete To make an inroad into; to invade.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun an
advance into enemy territory, anincursion , an attemptedinvasion - noun usually plural
progress made toward accomplishing a goal or solving a problem - verb obsolete, transitive To make an inroad into; to
invade .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an encroachment or intrusion
- noun an invasion or hostile attack
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word inroad.
Examples
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
Archive 2004-02-01 2004
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
Ulysses Gets Panned 2004
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
give me particulars 2004
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
Childhood's End 2004
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
Mining Our History 2004
-
Like the cyberpunks, these writers give us an 'inroad' for understanding and adapting to rapid change in technology.
The Problem of Humor 2004
-
As a result, a cap of £10,000 would make a massive inroad into the finances of the main parties.
Party funding shakeup rejection leaves committee urging promises kept 2011
-
Achieving this objective will constitute a first inroad into the advertising system.
Collectif des déboulonneurs The Nag 2009
-
An announcement that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit the country next month signals a preliminary U.S. inroad into the poor, yet strategically important, country.
China Cautious on Myanmar Reforms Brian Spegele 2011
-
They're visual trickery in fash form, a 12 quid inroad to cool.
What I bought this week: witty tights Polly Vernon 2010
chained_bear commented on the word inroad
A commonly used word (usually in the plural), but with military undertones/origins from the definition "hostile invasion."
October 9, 2008