English Reference
Noun

plenum

n. countable
C2 Proficiency US /ˈpɫɛnəm/ UK /plˈɛnəm/ plenum UK spelling plenums Computing Physics

n.a meeting where everyone in a group is present. It can also mean a space that is completely full of something, like air or gas.

n.a meeting of an entire body or assembly; also, a chamber or space filled with a fluid or gas. Often used in technical contexts to describe a volume of air or a full assembly of delegates.


SIMPLE

The committee will discuss the proposal in a plenum tomorrow.

CONTEXTUAL

After the breakout sessions, all the delegates gathered in the main hall for a plenum to vote on the final report.

COMPLEX

The physicist explained that the experiment required a vacuum, as the presence of air in the plenum would interfere with the delicate measurements of the particle's trajectory.


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.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin plēnum
Level C2 · Proficiency
Frequency Occasional
Updated