plenary

English

WOTD – 25 February 2009

Etymology

From Middle English plenarie, plenarye, from Late Latin plēnārius, from Latin plēnus (“full”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpliːnəɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpliːnəɹi/, /ˈplɛnəɹi/
• Rhymes: -iːnəɹi, -ɛnəɹi

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

plenary (comparative more plenary, superlative most plenary)

1. Fully attended; for everyone's attendance.
2. (theology or law) Complete; full; entire; absolute.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:

     The method of treating a subject should be plenary or full.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• plenary court
• plenary indulgence
• plenary power
• plenary session
• plenary speaker
• plenary talk

Translations

fully attended

• Armenian: լիակազմ (hy) (liakazm), պլենար (hy) (plenar)
• Azerbaijani: plenar, geniş (az)
• Basque: osoko
• Belarusian: плена́рны (pljenárny)
• Bulgarian: плена́рен (plenáren)
• Catalan: plenari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 全體出席的／全体出席的 (quántǐ chūxí de)

• Czech: valný (cs), plenární
• Dutch: plenair (nl)
• Finnish: täys- (fi)
• French: plénier (fr)
• Georgian: პლენარული (ṗlenaruli)
• German: Plenar-, Voll-
• Greek: ολομελής (el) (olomelís)
• Indonesian: lengkap (id), paripurna (id), pleno (id)
• Italian: plenario (it)
• Persian: عمومی‎ (fa) ('omumi)
• Polish: plenarny (pl), walny (pl)
• Portuguese: plenário
• Romanian: plenar (ro)
• Russian: плена́рный (ru) (plenárnyj)
• Spanish: plenario (es)
• Tajik: пленарӣ (plenarī)
• Ukrainian: плена́рний (plenárnyj)
• Vietnamese: toàn thể (vi)

Noun

plenary (plural plenaries)

1. plenary session

   After lunch, we will all be in the main auditorium listening to the plenary.

2. (pedagogy) Part of a lesson, usually at or towards the end, designed to review or evaluate the learning that has taken place.
   • 2004, Brian Sharp, Meeting SEN in the Curriculum: Maths‎^[2], →ISBN, page 114:

     Alternatively, the plenary may be used as preparation for the next lesson, and it might support the children to discuss some vocabulary with the TA to help them prepare.

   • 2010, Caroline Bentley-Davies, How to be an amazing teacher‎^[3], →ISBN:

     A good plenary doesn't just consolidate learning in that one lesson; it provides feedback for the teacher across a period of time and offers the chance to resolve any misconceptions.

   • 2013, Richard English, Maths and ICT in the Primary School: A Creative Approach‎^[4], →ISBN, page 30:

     During the plenary the teacher wanted to consolidate this by getting pupils to use and apply what they had learned and also to discuss the calculating strategies they would use in different situations.