Did you know?
The Latin word umbra ("shade, shadow") has given English a range of words in addition to umbra itself. An umbrella can provide us with shade from the sun. So can an umbrageous tree. (In this case, umbrageous means "affording shade.") The connection to shade or shadow in other umbra words is less obvious. When we say someone takes umbrage, we mean they take offense, but in times past people used the word as a synonym of shade or shadow. These two senses of umbrage influenced umbrageous, which can mean "inclined to take offense easily" as well as "affording shade."
Examples of umbra in a Sentence
Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2025
However, the totality phase—when the moon is fully within Earth's umbra and appears reddish—typically lasts between 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes, depending on how close the moon is to the Earth at the time.
—Jess Thomson, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
Totality occurs at 2:26 a.m. EDT Friday when the entire moon is under the umbra.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2025
The eclipse reaches totality as the full moon moves into the darkest part of Earth's shadow, called the umbra.
—Joe Hernandez, NPR, 11 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for umbra
Cite this Entry
“Umbra.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/umbra. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share