Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A partial shadow, as in an eclipse, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination. See Synonyms at shade.
- n. The grayish outer part of a sunspot.
- n. An area in which something exists to a lesser or uncertain degree: "The First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion” ( Joseph A. Califano, Jr.)
- n. An outlying surrounding region; a periphery: "Downtown Chicago and its penumbra also stand rejuvenated” ( John McCormick).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The partial shadow between the full light and the total shadow caused by an opaque body intercepting a part of the light from a luminous body. All points within the penumbra are excluded from the view of some part of the luminous body, and are thus partially shaded; while all points within the umbra, or total shadow, are completely excluded from view of the luminous body. The figures represent the so called Hipparchan diagrams of a lunar and a solar eclipse. Any portion of the moon in penumbra appears slightly dimmed, the more so the nearer it is to the umbra. At a station of the earth in the moon's penumbra, the disk of the sun is partially hidden, forming a partial (or, possibly, an annular) eclipse.
- n. The gray fringing border which surrounds the dark umbra or nucleus of a sun-spot.
- n. In painting, the boundary of shade and light, where the one blends with the other, the gradation being almost imperceptible.
- n. A surrounding fringe or border, as in the distribution of metamorphic effects produced by an igneous mass.
Wiktionary
- n. A partially shaded area around the edges of a shadow, especially an eclipse.
- n. astronomy A region around the edge of a sunspot, darker than the sun's surface but lighter than the middle of the sunspot.
- n. figuratively An area of uncertainly or intermediacy between two mutually exclusive states or categories.
- n. figuratively An area that lies on the edge of something; a fringe.
- n. Something related to, connected to, and implied by, the existence of something else that is necessary for the second thing to be full and complete in its essential aspects.
- n. medicine (in "ischaemic penumbra", after a stroke) A region of the brain that has lost only some of its blood supply, and retains structural integrity but has lost function.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An incomplete or partial shadow.
- n. (Astron.) The shadow cast, in an eclipse, where the light is partly, but not wholly, cut off by the intervening body; the space of partial illumination between the umbra, or perfect shadow, on all sides, and the full light.
- n. (Paint.) The part of a picture where the shade imperceptibly blends with the light.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a fringe region of partial shadow around an umbra
Etymologies
- From New Latin penumbra, from Latin paene ("almost") + umbra ("shadow"). (Wiktionary)
- New Latin pēnumbra : Latin paene, almost + Latin umbra, shadow. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And a penumbra is a different kettle of fish entirely – the metaphor was used by Justice Douglas in Griswold v. Connecticut and partakes more of substantive due process than anything else.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » The First Amendment and Advertisements of Legal Prostitution
“And a penumbra is a different kettle of fish entirely–the metaphor was used by Justice Douglas in Griswold v.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » The First Amendment and Advertisements of Legal Prostitution
“A penumbra is the partial shadow cast onto one celestial body (e.g., the Earth) when another celestial body (e.g., the Moon) partically but not completely occludes light from a source (e.g., the Sun).”
“The next circle is less dark, and called the penumbra, because it so closely resembles the penumbra.”
“The penumbra is the pale outer portion of the Earth's shadow.”
“It does enter a region of space called the penumbra, in which the Earth partially blocks the Sun.”
“In this area called the penumbra, cells get a little more oxygen so there is the potential for recovery if the waves can be silenced, he says.”
“Given that cells get a little more oxygen in the area called the penumbra, he thinks that there is the potential for recovery if the waves can be silenced.”
“The moon passing through the outer region of the Earth's shadow, known as the penumbra, will be visible from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia's west coast at”
“None are shrieking liberals like Marshall or Brennan, and none would pen "penumbra" style opinions.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘penumbra’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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Bright Folk
Some words I come across in my legal studies, though not really legal jargon. And the usage doesn't shout, "hey, I think I'm smart", just simply, "this is what applies in this context."
verbose, inter alia, ostentatious, usurp, presumptuous, anachronistic, unfettered, sine qua non, amenable, subversive, irreducible, penumbra and 28 more...
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Wordsthatcouldbeusedinmyth
bicephalous, invertebrate, amaranthine, befuddle, browbeat, expurgation, bigoted, groan, telic, untoward, mummer, formalist and 17 more...
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New Words
idiopathic, explicate, expiate, pellucid, exogenous, pelagic, manque, salonniere, pedantic, expatiate, cyclamen, peregrination and 83 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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color, light & sight
albedo, chromatography, chromatic, tone, penumbra, superluminal, diaphanous, iridescent, amethyst, opalescent, celadon, lapis and 35 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Verba Silvestria
Words of the Woods or Words of the Wilds
sylvestral, sylvester, silvester, silvestrian, sylvestrian, silvatic, sylvatic, silvan, sylvan, silva, sylva, nemorose and 108 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
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Stumbled Words
A list of words that I stumbled upon while reading.
penumbra, prolix, propitious, resplendence, sepulchral, Weltschmerz, apparition, brigand, probity, chalice, paroxysm, pallor and 160 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for penumbra.

ruzuzu "n. A surrounding fringe or border, as in the distribution of metamorphic effects produced by an igneous mass." --CD&C Mar 14, 2012
reesetee You know us well. :-) May 2, 2009
milosrdenstvi *waits for the inevitable taking of penumbrage* Apr 30, 2009
beautifulpyre Almost shadow. Apr 30, 2009