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parenthesis

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pa⋅ren⋅the⋅sis

  [puh-ren-thuh-sis]
–noun, plural -ses  [-seez] .
1. either or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic, etc.
2. Usually, parentheses. the material contained within these marks.
3. Grammar. a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or sentence that interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicated in writing by commas, parentheses, or dashes, as in William Smith—you must know him—is coming tonight.
4. an interval.
Use parenthesis in a Sentence
Origin:
1560–70; < LL < Gk parénthesis a putting in beside. See par-, en- 2 , thesis
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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pa·ren·the·sis   (pə-rěn'thĭ-sĭs)   
n.   pl. par·en·the·ses (-sēz')

  1. Either or both of the upright curved lines, ( ), used to mark off explanatory or qualifying remarks in writing or printing or enclose a sum, product, or other expression considered or treated as a collective entity in a mathematical operation.

    1. A qualifying or amplifying word, phrase, or sentence inserted within written matter in such a way as to be independent of the surrounding grammatical structure.

    2. A comment departing from the theme of discourse; a digression.

  3. An interruption of continuity; an interval: "This is one of the things I wasn't prepared for—the amount of unfilled time, the long parentheses of nothing" (Margaret Atwood).


[Late Latin, insertion of a letter or syllable in a word, from Greek, from parentithenai, to insert : para-, beside; see para-1 + en-, in; see en in Indo-European roots + tithenai, to put; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

parenthesis 
1550, "words, clauses, etc. inserted into a sentence," from M.Fr. parenthèse, from L.L. parenthesis "addition of a letter to a syllable in a word," from Gk. parenthesis, lit. "a putting in beside," from parentithenai "put in beside," from para- "beside" + en- "in" + tithenai "put, place," from PIE base *dhe- "to put, to do" (see factitious). Extension of the word to the curved brackets that indicate the words inserted is from 1715.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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