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penumbra

[pi-nuhm-bruh] / pɪˈnʌm brə /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Adams’ production creates a cinematic penumbra through the projections of Ruey Horng Sun, a soundscape by Sinan Refik Zafar that lyrically underscores the actions and the emotionally attuned lighting of Reza Behjat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes through the outer region of Earth's shadow, called the penumbra.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025

But the Earth also casts a wider, and lighter, shadow, called the penumbra, which extends away from the planet at an angle.

From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2024

Eastern time on Monday, the moon will start to pass through only the outermost part of Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2024

The late afternoon sun was behind his back, so that he glowed at the edges — shadow, penumbra.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

When the ascending currents are powerful, they create those appearances which astronomers designate the nuclei, the penumbrae, the faculae.

From The Story of the Herschels by Anonymous

From the top of the terrace he gazed upon this vague form standing up like a phantom in the penumbrae of the evening.

From Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert

Her steps became feebler, and she strained her eyes to look afar upon the naked road, now indistinct amid the penumbrae of night.

From Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

On a December day in the foothills near Seattle, walking into the sun southward and nearly blinded, all you can see are penumbras of emerald-green moss along the vertical edges of the trunks.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2022

Rigging raises a sheet, in front of and behind which the dancers play with shadows, misshapen ones with extra auras and penumbras.

From New York Times ● Sep. 11, 2022

Or are all enforceable rights either enumerated or penumbras formed by emanations of enumerated ones?

From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2022

At best, it may be gleaned—just barely—from the penumbras of several different provisions of the Constitution, none of which use the words “equal sovereignty.”

From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2015

The deputy pivoted in the direction of the doorway and shouted at a featureless face broken up in equidistant penumbras by four bars, “Who’s there?”

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy




Vocabulary lists containing penumbra


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