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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
Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 19 Feb. 2026
This is where the Moon makes contact with Earth’s umbra, and more of the surface will turn dark.
—Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 19 Feb. 2026
The partial outer shadow is called the penumbra; the full, dark shadow is the umbra.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 31 Jan. 2026
During a total solar eclipse, there’s a narrow path of totality projected onto Earth by the moon’s dark central shadow (its umbra).
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 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 20 Feb. 2026.
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