inroad

noun

1. (also, figuratively)An advance into enemy territory, an attempted invasion; an encroachment, an incursion.

   “[…] That ſince that time he [Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus] was become the ſubject of King Henry [VIII] of England, his Majeſty's [James V of Scotland's] greateſt enemy; and was now the cauſe of all the Inroads made by the English into Scotland: […]”

   “[A] child knowing the heate of fire, will as readely iudge of the perrill, as the wiſeſt Senatour, of the inroad of a borderer, or the politick captaine, of the vnequall encoũter with his enimy, […]”

   “Whence is it that ſo many corrupt Opinions have made ſuch an Inroad on Proteſtant Religion, and the Profeſſion of it? Is it not from hence, that many have loſt an Experience of the power and efficacy of the Truth, and ſo have parted with it?”

   “[T]he Britains, left to ſhift for themſelves, and daily haraſſed by cruel Inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the Saxons for their Defence; […]”

   “The brave and active Conſtantius delivered Gaul from a very furious inroad of the Alemanni; and his victories of Langres and Vindoniſſa appear to have been actions of conſiderable danger and merit.”

2. (figuratively, plural-normally)Often followed by in, into, or on: initial progress made toward accomplishing a goal or solving a problem.

   “Three weeks into it, I am finally beginning to make inroads on this project.”

   “You must have been fairly surprised at Dr. Glaser's inroads into reprogramming the brain.”

   “Even in our post-Darwinian society, with evolutionary theory making inroads in many areas of the social and human sciences, the cynics' insight retains an ability to stimulate and to provoke.”

   “These insights open up novel inroads in the area of neurorehabilitation by demonstrating that disorders such as amblyopia might be accessible to perceptual training protocols.”

verb

1. (archaic, intransitive)To make advances or incursions.

   “[Y]ou muſt not expect him to go with you, inroading or making incurſions into Georgia; for he is an Armenian, true to his faith; and not a Georgian, falſe and diſtruſtful!”

   “[T]his is the first war that has befallen in my time, and no inimy has yet inroaded far enough into the Colony, to be reached by an arm even longer than mine.”

   “All about the dreaming sea-board, but tucked well out of sight, lurked those guardians of the environment—filters, slurpers, booms, vacuums, ultramodern aids to deal with the very latest imperishables. All ruinously expensive to mount, and inroading sizeably into profit margins, but part of the small print that nearly drove Boyle barmy.”

   “[…] Kvenland and Scythian Amazons […] poisoned Anund and his troops when they were inroading in Vinland or Kvenland.”

2. (obsolete, transitive)To make an inroad into (something).

   “[Y]ea, the Saracens had lately waſted Italy, conquered Spain, inroded Aquitain, and poſſeſſed ſome iſlands in the mid-land-ſea.”

   “The kyngdom of Heven be Chriſt, 'teys reſembled to this noble kyng / With riches inroded mercy for to lern, and to have compaſſion. / One of another, after goddes Faſſyon.”

   “Andy was especial inroaded by self-esteem at our success, the rudiments of the scheme having originated in his own surmises and premonitions.”

   “Furthermore, what initially was the main domain of record labels—the financing of music productions—was also inroaded by business outsiders.”

   “[I]n June 2008, the Ras Doumeirah incident happened. Eritrean forces inroaded the Ras Doumeirah principality, a strategic place at the narrowest crossing point to the Gulf of Aden at the strait of Babeal Mendeb.”

name

1. A barangay of Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines.