plenum

From Latin plēnum n (“space filled with matter”), from plēnus (“full”). The sense of "legislative meeting" is a semantic loan from Russian пле́нум (plénum, “plenary session”), from the same Latin source.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpliːnəm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈplɛnəm/, /ˈplinəm/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnəm, -ɛnəm

plenum (plural plenums or plena)

2. (physics) A space that is completely filled with matter.

   Antonym: vacuum

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy:

     The idea was that a thing could only move into an empty place, and that, in a plenum, there are no empty places.

   • 2001, Edward Grant, God and Reason in the Middle Ages, page 176:

     The key to understanding medieval interpretations of motion in hypothetically void space is to realize that medieval natural philosophers analyzed the same bodies in the void that they discussed in the plenum of their ordinary world.

4. (figuratively) A state of fullness, a great quantity (of something).
   • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:

     He lay on the long stone slant down to the slapping waves, his denim shorts, sneakers, and socks under his head for a pillow, feeling the splendour of distance in all directions, the liquid silence, the plenum of aloneness.

6. A legislative meeting (especially of the Communist Party) in which all members are present.
8. An enclosed space having greater than atmospheric pressure.
10. The space above a false ceiling used for cables, ducts etc.
12. (computing) A type of network cabling which satisfies a given plenum rating for the purpose of fire safety.

• lumpen

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɫeː.nũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈplɛː.num]

plēnum

1. inflection of plēnus:
   1. accusative masculine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular

plēnum n (genitive plēnī); second declension

1. (physics) plenum (a space that is completely filled with matter)

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• “plēnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

From Latin plenum.

plenum n (definite singular plenumet, indefinite plural plena, definite plural plenaene)

1. a plenum (meeting)
2. a plenary session
3. a public place

   Thomas Giertsen var på apoteket og kassapersonen annonserte at han hadde en soppinfeksjon høyt i plenum så alle hørte det.

   Thomas Giertsen was in the apothecary and the pharmacist announced loudly his fungal infection to those present in the shop.

• “plenum” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “plenum” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Latin plenum.

plenum n (definite singular plenumet, indefinite plural plenum, definite plural plenuma)

1. a plenum (meeting)
2. a plenary session

• “plenum” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Internationalism; possibly borrowed from German Plenum, French plenum, or English plenum, ultimately from Latin plēnum.^[1][2] First attested in the 20th century.^[3] Doublet of ful and pełny.

• IPA^(key): /ˈplɛ.num/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnum
• Syllabification: ple‧num

plenum n

1. plenum (a legislative meeting (especially of the Communist Party) in which all members are present)
2. plenum (members gathered at such a meeting)

• plenum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• plenum in Polish dictionaries at PWN