You searched for: “parentheses
parenthesis (s), parentheses (pl) (nouns)
1. One of a pair of shallow, curved signs, ( ), used to enclose an additional inserted word or comment and to distinguish it from the sentence in which it is found.
2. Either, or both, of the upright curved lines, ( ), used to mark off explanatory or qualifying remarks in writing or printing or to enclose a sum, product, or other expression considered or treated as a collective entity in a mathematical operation.
3. A word or phrase that comments on, or qualifies part of the sentence, in which it is found and is isolated from it by parentheses or dashes.
4. A piece of speech or writing that wanders off from the main topic.
5. Something that acts as a pause or a break in something.
6."In parenthesis" may refer to an additional qualifying, explanatory, or otherwise separate comment.
7. Etymology: "words, clauses, etc. inserted into a sentence", from Middle French parenthèse, 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" + en-, "in" + tithenai, "to put, to place".
This entry is located in the following unit: the-; them-, themat-, thes-, thet- (page 2)
(The translation of the story with the interpretations of the right answers in parentheses)
Word Entries at Get Words: “parentheses
Parentheses

(Parentheses)

Come, peer at parentheses (close as you can).
Don't they look like the legs of a bowlegged man?
What manner of man?
Why, a cowboy, of course,
Whose legs have been bent by the sides of a horse.

But horsemen on horses
Ride rounding up herds,
While parentheses straddle
Not horses but words.
(Yes, firmly they saddle and tightly they rein
The words used to add
Or to define
Or to explain.)

One parenthesis left, one parenthesis right,
Two parentheses hold (like a vise) the words tight.
It's nice that parentheses make the words stay
So they're there when you get there.
(Without the parentheses, they might have run away.)

—This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 27.
This entry is located in the following unit: Parentheses as shown: (parentheses) (page 1)
Parentheses
The parentheses unit of punctuation marks.
This entry is located in the following unit: Index of Punctuation Marks (page 1)
parenthesis (s) (noun), parentheses (pl)
Either of a pair of brackets ( ); especially, round brackets, and (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
This entry is located in the following unit: Punctuation Marks with Symbols, Explanations, and Examples (page 1)
A unit at Get Words related to: “parentheses
(parentheses as punctuation marks)