Dictionary

penumbrous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /pɪˈnʌmbɹəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree English penumbra Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English penumbrous From penumbra + -ous.

Meanings

1. Partially shaded.
   • the penumbrous calm of the cathedral interior
2. Vague; ill-defined; unclear.
   • This is that from which metaphor springs dissatisfying, penumbrous - the silence on occult matters, or those of predestination, of genetics or environment - and the source of circumlocution, the ambiguous alchemical directives. 1982, Open Letter, page 119:
   • Yet such Commissions were awarded, and far more frequently than might be supposed in view of the infinitely wider gulf—both social and educational—which divided the eighteenth-century Officer from the rank and file, than the penumbrous border line which separates them today. 1951, Reginald Hargreaves, This Happy Breed: Sidelights on Soldiers and Soldiering, page 237:
   • Everyone knows God in his penumbrous knowledge of common esse. 1961, Gerard Smith, Lottie H. Kendzierski, The philosophy of being: Metaphysics I, page 326:
   • In the early nineteenth century, when high school and college education was a rare experience for the average American citizen, judicial determination of vague, penumbrous fundamental rights was carried out by the educated classes. 1992, James R. Cooper, Twilight's Last Gleaming: The Price of Happiness in America, page 39:

Forms