plenary

American  

[plee-nuh-ree, plen-uh-] / ˈpli nə ri, ˈplɛn ə- /

adjective

1. full; complete; entire; absolute; unqualified.

   plenary powers.

2. attended by all qualified members; fully constituted.

   a plenary session of Congress.

---

noun

plenaries plural

1. a plenary session, meeting, or the like.

plenary British  

/ ˈplɛn-, ˈpliːnərɪ /

adjective

1. full, unqualified, or complete

   plenary powers

   plenary indulgence

2. (of assemblies, councils, etc) attended by all the members

---

noun

1. a book of the gospels or epistles and homilies read at the Eucharist

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plenarily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plenaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plenary

First recorded in 1375–1425; from Late Latin plēnārius ( see plenum, -ary); replacing late Middle English plener, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin plēnāris ( see -ar ¹)

Explanation

If something is full or complete, you can describe it as plenary. When you get to be a teenager, your parents can give you plenary responsibility for your siblings when they go out. They pay pretty well to boss the kids around! Although the adjective plenary can be used to describe anything that is full or complete, it most often describes a full meeting session, as in a political meeting or a board meeting. The school board met in a plenary session today to discuss the purchase of land for a new high school. When you got asked to be the plenary speaker at the board meeting, you made sure to put it on your resume right away.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plenary plenaries

This year's conference also features a plenary event with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who will speak Tuesday night on "the Future of Venezuela."

From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026

Ma’s last disclosed appearance was at a plenary meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in October.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026

These were heartily applauded in the plenary halls – but their legal standing is uncertain.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2025

However, there is one area in which the president does have absolute plenary authority: The power of the pardon.

From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2025

IN MAY OF 1992, after a four-month interruption, the multiparty conference held its second plenary session at the World Trade Centre.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

The meeting in Bridgetown, from Monday to Thursday, included strategy sessions and plenaries and marked the beginning of an "intercontinental campaign", the UWI said in a statement, describing it as "ground-breaking".

From Reuters ● Jul. 27, 2023

Although not unprecedented, it’s uncommon for North Korea to hold two different party plenaries in a span of two months.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2023

There were plenaries, concurrent talks, a keynote, lanyards, bag lunches, a sense of initial giddiness that gives way to acute information overload resulting in a desire never to leave your hotel room again.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2018

"They called for the talks, and then they refused to go in the plenaries."

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2014

Starters and plenaries are very rare, and usually students enter classrooms with a genuine fear of what they may be expected to achieve.

From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2013