Parenthesis Meaning
/pəˈɹɛn.θə.sɪs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA 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.
nounEither of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
Sentence Examples
You added an extra parenthesis.
You have an unmatched open parenthesis in your first sentence.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The writer used a left ____ to begin the side note.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The note in ____ at the end of the sentence provided useful context for the reader.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Late Latin parenthesis (“addition of a letter to a syllable in a word”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek παρένθεσις (parénthesis, “insertion”). By surface analysis, par- + en- + thesis.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"How expressive this little parenthesis: "Sakuntalâ makes a chiding gesture with her finger"!"
— 1903, Karl Mantzius, A History of Theatrical Art in Ancient and Modern Times, page 86:
"There be five manner of points and divisions most used among cunning men; the which if they be well used, make the sentence very light and easy to be understood, both to the reader and hearer: and they be these, virgil,—come,—parenthesis,—plain point,—interrogative[…] it is a slender stroke leaning forward, betokening a little short rest, without any perfectness yet of sentence."
— 1824, John Johnson, Typographia, Or the Printer's Instructor, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green:
"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."
— 1842, F. Francillon, An Essay on Punctuation, page 9:
"[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."
— 2018, James Lambert, “Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles”, in World Englishes, volume 37, page 255:
"Mr. Trevanion was one of those talkers, who are too much engrossed with their own subject matter to have much attention to bestow elsewhere; with them silence is attention. Ethel's wandering eye, and lip, tremulous with its effort to speak, would never have attracted his notice. To his utter astonishment, she interrupted a parenthesis, as brilliant as the rocket which it depicted, by saying,—
"Mr. Trevanion, I do not know what you will think of my boldness, but I must speak to you.""
— 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 113:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The writer used a left ____ to begin the side note.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The note in ____ at the end of the sentence provided useful context for the reader.