penetralia
Americanplural noun
-
the innermost parts or recesses of a place or thing.
-
the most private or secret things.
plural noun
-
the innermost parts
-
secret matters
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of penetralia
First recorded in 1660–70; from Latin, noun use of neuter plural of penetrālis “inner,” equivalent to penetr(āre) “to penetrate ” + -ālis -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like Kahn’s buildings, too, Lesser’s book has its penetralia, core elements to which one is only gradually led.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2017
The book is littered with show-off phrases such as "alembicated piety" and "the penetralia of one's self-regard."
From Time Magazine Archive
My legation button carried me through the guard, and I found an excellent place under a cardinal's wing, in the penetralia within the railing of the altar.
From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by Willis, N. Parker
He wanted to hear his own voice applauding the things that were leaping, singing, shouting in the penetralia of his being.
From The Cottage of Delight A Novel by Harben, Will N. (William Nathaniel)
Here lay the penetralia of this domicile, this weak fortification against the world.
From The Broken Gate A Novel by Hough, Emerson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
