How to Use penumbra in a Sentence

penumbra

noun
  • This is made up of the time when the Moon hits the penumbra and umbra.
    Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 17 Nov. 2021
  • The rest of the moon is covered by the outer part of the Earth's shadow, called the penumbra.
    AL.com, 7 Aug. 2017
  • The whole moon is in Earth’s penumbra, but the dimming is subtle.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 15 May 2022
  • And that led her down to the upper penumbra of the theater district.
    Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 5 Nov. 2021
  • When does the last bit of penumbra cease to be visible?
    Curtis Roelle, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 31 Oct. 2020
  • The penumbra is the outer part of the Earth’s shadow, while the umbra is the deepest and darkest part of the shadow.
    Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 17 Nov. 2021
  • This is from the Earth’s lighter shadow, called the penumbra, that is barely visible to the naked eye.
    Dean Regas, The Enquirer, 10 May 2022
  • The penumbra is the partial outer shadow, and the umbra is the full, dark shadow.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 3 May 2022
  • The partial outer shadow is called the penumbra; the full, dark shadow is the umbra.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 5 Feb. 2023
  • At that moment, the penumbra will cover 76.5 percent of the lunar disk.
    Joe Rao, Scientific American, 17 Oct. 2013
  • The penumbra is the outer edge of the Earth's shadow, lasting over six hours, and the umbra is the deepest part of the shadow, lasting 3.5 hours.
    Sherry Liang, CNN, 18 Nov. 2021
  • His passing coincided with the penumbra eclipse of the moon, like Spain’s shadow from the outer edge of the art world’s face.
    Bruce Sterling, WIRED, 31 Dec. 2012
  • This occurs when the moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 15 Mar. 2023
  • The entire event then goes into reverse, with the Moon exiting the umbra, then the penumbra.
    Jamie Carter, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2021
  • The event begins when the full Moon enters the Earth’s outer shadows—its penumbra (a penumbral lunar eclipse).
    Jamie Carter, Forbes, 12 May 2021
  • The eclipse on Friday will occur when the moon moves into Earth's penumbra, or outer shadow.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 10 Jan. 2020
  • The penumbra of rigor and respectability that drew people to her in the first place has been ruined by her own actions.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2022
  • The Earth blocks some of the sun's light from directly reaching the moon's surface, and covers all or part of the moon with the outer part of its shadow, also known as the penumbra.
    Elizabeth Gulino, refinery29.com, 2 July 2020
  • This less dramatic version of a lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the penumbra, or the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow.
    Katie Hunt, CNN, 1 Mar. 2023
  • Penumbral lunar eclipse — March 25 The penumbra is formed when the sun, moon, and Earth are partially aligned, and Earth obstructs the sun's light to cover part of the moon in its shadow.
    Ria Gupta, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Feb. 2024
  • Catholicism is a dogmatic faith, but one that casts a penumbra far beyond its creed and doctrines.
    James Matthew Wilson, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020
  • The penumbra will be thousands of miles wide, reaching from Canada to Mexico.
    Julie Washington, cleveland.com, 16 Aug. 2017
  • The celestial show technically begins at 2:51 a.m. PST, when the moon moves into the pale outer shadow of the Earth, known as the penumbra.
    Deborah Netburn, latimes.com, 30 Jan. 2018
  • Partial eclipses happen when the moon is partly in the umbra or entirely in the penumbra with only some sunlight blocked.
    Miriam Fauzia, USA TODAY, 26 May 2021
  • There’s a whole penumbra of horrible things that happen after.
    Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2021
  • In eastern Wisconsin the spectacle is scheduled to begin at 8:32 p.m. Sunday when the edge of the Earth's shadow, or penumbra, starts touching the moon.
    Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 14 May 2022
  • Spreading out over more than 700 pages, the novel has room to trace the events that motivated Luther before that deadly morning and to explore the penumbra cast by Gus’ death over the next decade.
    Ron Charles, The Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2017
  • Spreading out over more than 700 pages, the novel has room to trace the events that motivated Luther before that deadly morning and to explore the penumbra cast by Gus’s death over the next decade.
    Ron Charles, The Denver Post, 3 Feb. 2017
  • For nearly four hours on Friday, at least some part of the southern portion of the moon will be within Earth's pale penumbra, our planet's faint outer shadow.
    Joe Rao, Scientific American, 17 Oct. 2013
  • This penumbral lunar eclipse will be more noticeable than past eclipses of this nature, as the entirety of the moon’s face will lie within Earth’s shadow, known as the penumbra.
    Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 1 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'penumbra.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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