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, an incursion, an attempted invasion
  • 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

[in + road, riding, raid (obsolete).]

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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

Comments

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  • A commonly used word (usually in the plural), but with military undertones/origins from the definition "hostile invasion."

    October 9, 2008