PARENTHESES

PARENTHESIS

digression, aside, excursus, divagation, parenthesis

(noun) a message that departs from the main subject

parenthesis

(noun) either of two punctuation marks (or) used to enclose textual material

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Noun

parentheses

plural of parenthesis

Source: Wiktionary


PARENTHESIS

Pa*ren"the*sis, n.; pl. Parentheses. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. Para-, En-, 2, and Thesis.]

1. A word, phrase, or sentence, by way of comment or explanation, inserted in, or attached to, a sentence which would be grammatically complete without it. It is usually inclosed within curved lines (see def. 2 below), or dashes. "Seldom mentioned without a derogatory parenthesis." Sir T. Browne. Don't suffer every occasional thought to carry you away into a long parenthesis. Watts.

2. (Print.)

Definition: One of the curved lines () which inclose a parenthetic word or phrase.

Note: Parenthesis, in technical grammar, is that part of a sentence which is inclosed within the recognized sign; but many phrases and sentences which are punctuated by commas are logically parenthetical. In def. 1, the phrase "by way of comment or explanation" is inserted for explanation, and the sentence would be grammatically complete without it. The present tendency is to avoid using the distinctive marks, except when confusion would arise from a less conspicuous separation.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

6 January 2025

PREMATURELY

(adverb) (of childbirth) before the end of the normal period of gestation; “the child was born prematurely”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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