adj. Full; entire; complete; absolute; as, a plenary license; plenary authority. Plenary indulgence (R. C. Ch.), an entire remission of temporal punishment due to, or canonical penance for, all sins. - Plenary inspiration. (Theol.) See under Inspiration.
- n. (Law) Decisive procedure. Latin for full. An indication that whatever is happening it is complete in all respects. Full, complete. In the courts of admiralty, and in the English ecclesiastical courts, causes or suits in respect of the different course of proceeding in each, are termed plenary or summary. Plenary, or full and formal suits, are those in which the proceedings must be full and formal: the term summary is applied to those causes where the proceedings are more succinct and less formal.