penumbra

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.

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

While lit with the penumbra of a spotlight aimed elsewhere, he coolly mimed the smoking of a cigarette with a kazoo.

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2023

His non-adult fiction occupies a penumbra between “not really classics” and “better than most of the crap pushed at kids.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2023

New plants and animals, whether in the New World or the Old, had no such chain of associations, no penumbra of cultural meanings.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton