From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpenumbrape‧num‧bra /pəˈnʌmbrə/ noun [countable] technicalDNHEM an area of slight darkness
Examples from the Corpus
penumbra• In other words, the First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion.• She kept hitting my forehead, and penumbra replaced myopia, and my arms fell away, no longer offering interference.• Thus, beyond the specifically theological reasons for unionism, there is a broader penumbra of social concerns.• The right of association contained in the penumbra of the First Amendment is one, as we have seen.• The area round it was hidden in the penumbra.Origin penumbra (1600-1700) Modern Latin Latin paene “almost” + umbra “shadow” 