from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th 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).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A partially shaded area around the edges of a shadow, especially an eclipse.
- n. A region around the edge of a sunspot, darker than the sun's surface but lighter than the middle of the sunspot.
- n. An area of uncertainly or intermediacy between two mutually exclusive states or categories.
- n. 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. (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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. An incomplete or partial shadow.
- n. 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. The part of a picture where the shade imperceptibly blends with the light.
from The 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.
- 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.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a fringe region of partial shadow around an umbra
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.
And a penumbra is a different kettle of fish entirely–the metaphor was used by Justice Douglas in Griswold v.
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.