Crossword clues for parenthesis
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Parenthesis \Pa*ren"the*sis\ (p[.a]*r[e^]n"th[-e]*s[i^]s), n.; pl. Parentheses. [NL., fr. Gr. pare`nqesis, fr. parentiqe`nai to put in beside, insert; para` beside + 'en in + tiqe`nai to put, place. See Para-, En-, 2, and Thesis.]
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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. -
(Print.) 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.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1540s, "words, clauses, etc. inserted into a sentence," from Middle French parenthèse (15c.), from Late Latin parenthesis "addition of a letter to a syllable in a word," from Greek parenthesis, literally "a putting in beside," from parentithenai "put in beside," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + en- "in" + tithenai "put, place" (see theme). Sense extension by 1715 from the inserted words to the curved brackets that indicate the words inserted.\n\nA wooden parenthesis; the pillory. An iron parenthesis; a prison.
["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]
Wiktionary
n. 1 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 Either of a pair of brackets, especially round brackets, '''(''' and ''')''' (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text). 3 (context rhetoric English) A digression; the use of such digressions. 4 (context mathematics logic English) 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.
WordNet
n. either of two punctuation marks (or) used to enclose textual material
a message that departs from the main subject [syn: digression, aside, excursus, divagation]
[also: parentheses (pl)]
Wikipedia
In rhetoric, a parenthesis (plural: parentheses; from the Greek word παρένθεσις parénthesis, which comes in turn from words meaning "alongside of" and "to place") or parenthetical phrase is an explanatory or qualifying word, clause, or sentence inserted into a passage. The parenthesis could be left out and still form grammatically correct text. Parentheses are usually marked off by round or square brackets, dashes, or commas.
A parenthesis (plural parentheses) is a type of bracket used for punctuation.
It may also refer to:
- Parenthesis (rhetoric), an explanatory or qualifying word in a passage or statement.
- In Parenthesis, an epic poem of World War I by David Jones.
- Emphasis! (On Parenthesis), an album by the Stanton Moore Trio.
- Lecithocera parenthesis, a moth in the Lecithoceridae family.
- Triple parentheses, also known as an (((echo))), are a symbol used to highlight the names of individuals of a Jewish background.
Usage examples of "parenthesis".
The writing was as legible as if it had been typeset, each letter shod and gloved with serifs, the parentheses neatly crimped, the wavy hyphens like stylized bolts of lightning.
Arcturus: of the precession of equinoxes: of Orion with belt and sextuple sun theta and nebula in which 100 of our solar systems could be contained: of moribund and of nascent new stars such as Nova in 1901: of our system plunging towards the constellation of Hercules: of the parallax or parallactic drift of socalled fixed stars, in reality evermoving wanderers from immeasurably remote eons to infinitely remote futures in comparison with which the years, threescore and ten, of allotted human life formed a parenthesis of infinitesimal brevity.
The signpost of hour and date ought to announce an important event, but before we reach object or action an overladen parenthesis blocks the route.
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS A local cult, called Christianity, Which the wild dramas of the wheeling spheres Include, with divers other such, in dim Pathetical and brief parentheses, Beyond whose span, uninfluenced, unconcerned, The systems of the suns go sweeping on With all their many-mortaled planet train In mathematic roll unceasingly.
Pique--Reconciliation--The First Meeting--A Philosophical Parenthesis My beautiful nun had not spoken to me, and I was glad of it, for I was so astonished, so completely under the spell of her beauty, that I might have given her a very poor opinion of my intelligence by the rambling answers which I should very likely have given to her questions.
There was a pronounced parenthesis around her mouth where the nasolabial folds carved their mark.
The result is that the cheeks start to look bony and sunken, and bulgy parentheses of fat reinforce the nasolabial lines.
And when he prints it, in England, France, Germany, and Italy, he italicizes it, puts some whooping exclamation-points after it, and sometimes explains it in a parenthesis.
Why, Mrs. Piper has a good deal to say, chiefly in parentheses and without punctuation, but not much to tell.
Not, he parenthesised, that for the sake of filthy lucre he need necessarily embrace the lyric platform as a walk in life for any lengthy space of time.
CONVENT AFFAIRS CHAPTER XVI Countess Coronini--A Lover's Pique--Reconciliation--The First Meeting--A Philosophical Parenthesis My beautiful nun had not spoken to me, and I was glad of it, for I was so astonished, so completely under the spell of her beauty, that I might have given her a very poor opinion of my intelligence by the rambling answers which I should very likely have given to her questions.
The Montego with the twin cam reveals muffler problems and clunks down off the curb and lays two parentheses as it 180s professionally around in the middle of the street and peels out up in Lenz's direction, a very low and fast and no-shit car, its antenna's gay lei tugged by speed into a strained ellipse and leaving a wake of white petals that take forever to stop falling.
Orval Creel, chairman of the House Committee on Assassination Conspiracies and Attempts, in parentheses (CACA).
Bad Dispositions require some time to grow into bad Habits, bad Habits must undermine good, and often-repeated acts make us habitually evil: so that by gradual depravations, and while we are but staggeringly evil, we are not left without Parentheses of considerations, thoughtful rebukes, and merciful interventions, to recall us unto our selves.
Then, in parentheses, and in different type, there was the statement: The editors of this paper agree that Elsevere cannot and will not jump to his whistle, come what may.