parenthesis

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) 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.
2. (countable, uncountable) Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
3. (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) A digression; the use of such digressions.
4. (countable, uncountable) 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.

Synonyms

bracket

brace

clamp

🗜️

staple

holdfast

characters

parentheses

round bracket

digression

aside

excursus

divagation

brackets

parenthetical

comment clause

curve

hold fast

intercalation

interlude

interval

passing comment

paren

Translations

Klammer

🗜️

paréntesis

parêntese

parenthèse

haakje

παρένθεση

nietje

klamp

parentesi

kramp

laña

Parenthese

Krampe

grampo

🗜️

grapa

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pəˈɹɛnθəsɪs/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin parenthesis (“addition of a letter to a syllable in a word”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek παρένθεσις (parénthesis, “insertion”).