idiom · academic
make a breakthrough
UK/meɪk ə ˈbreɪkθruː/US/meɪk ə ˈbreɪkˌθruː/MAKE·a·BREAK·through
to achieve an important discovery or a significant advance after effort or research.
Examples
“Scientists hope to make a breakthrough in cancer treatment within the next decade.”
“The team made a breakthrough when they identified the underlying mechanism.”
“After several failed prototypes, the engineers finally made a breakthrough.”
Band 8 sentence
“After years of incremental work, the researchers finally made a breakthrough that could change how we treat neurodegenerative diseases.”
Collocations
- make a scientific breakthrough
- make a breakthrough in research/technology/medicine
Word family
Common mistakes
do a breakthrough→make a breakthrough
breakthrough on research→breakthrough in research
Say it for a higher band
5make progress→6achieve progress→7+make a breakthrough
Synonyms
achieve a major advance
Easily confused
make progress
“The team made steady progress on the project over several months.”
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