get through

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

get through (third-person singular simple present gets through, present participle getting through, simple past got through, past participle (UK) got through or (US) gotten through)

1. To overcome; to endure.

   Military training was hard, but I got through it.

2. To complete; to finish.

   She got through her book this morning!

   I was so thirsty that I got through three glasses of orange juice.

3. To communicate successfully across a barrier; to make contact, or get one's point across; to reach the addressee with difficulty.

   He was such a dyed-in-the-wool partisan that I just couldn't get through to him and change his mind.

   The call wouldn't get through no matter how many times I tried.

   • 1920, Margot Asquith, An Autobiography:

     My father had a horror of girls' schools (and if he could “get through”—to use the orthodox expression of the spookists—he would find all his opinions on this subject more than justified by the manners, morals and learning of the young ladies of the present day) […]

   • 1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty):

     And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU… WILL… ATONE! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

   • 2003, “The Outsider”, performed by A Perfect Circle:

     What'll it take to get it through to you precious?
     I'm over this, why do you wanna throw it away like this?
     Such a mess, why would I want to watch you?

• The communication sense is often used to blame the listener, not the speaker. One saying Am I getting through to you? is implying the hearer is ignoring or even consciously resisting the speaker's message. There is no similarly convenient expression with which the speaker can acknowledge that their own message may have been unclear.

• go through
• live through