Parenthesis

Quick meaning: Parenthesis is a noun meaning Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).

Meaning

Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).

More Meanings

1. (rhetoric) A digression; the use of such digressions.
2. A clause, phrase or word which is inserted (usually for explanation or amplification) into a passage which is already grammatically complete, and usually marked off with brackets, commas or dashes.
3. (mathematics, logic) Such brackets as used to clarify expressions by grouping those terms affected by a common operator, or to enclose the components of a vector or the elements of a matrix.

Example Sentences

How expressive this little parenthesis: "Sakuntalâ makes a chiding gesture with her finger"!

[T]he present research also made an effort to approach a greater accuracy in presenting the original sources of borrowed words. This was achieved by presenting etymons from Hindustani in the Devanagari script followed by a transliteration in the Roman alphabet in parentheses.

Whoever introduced the several points, it seems that a full-point, a point called come, answering to our colon-point, a point called virgil answering to our comma-point, the parenthesis-points and interrogative-point, were used at the close of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney): I thought I was a part of your life. Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga): I thought we signed up for the same thing[…] I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney): I'm a parenthesis?

Word Forms

• parentheses

Synonyms for parenthesis

Depending on context, synonyms include parathesis, apposition, parenthesis-point, paren, parentheme, digression.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include excursus, aside, digression, divagation, note, interlude.

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