Parenthesis (Noun)

Meaning ¹

A message that departs from the main subject.

Classification

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.

Synonyms

• Aside
• Divagation
• Digression
• Excursus

Hypernyms

• Subject Matter
• Message
• Content
• Substance

Related Words

• Parenthetic (adjective)
• Parenthetical (adjective)

Meaning ²

Either of two punctuation marks (or) used to enclose textual material.

Classification

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.

Examples

• The editor inserted a brief explanation in parenthesis to clarify the complex term used in the sentence.
• In academic writing, authors often use parenthesis to include non-essential information that may be of interest to some readers.
• The student struggled to remember when to use a comma and when to use a parenthesis in her essay.
• The teacher reminded the class that parenthesis should be used sparingly in formal writing to avoid cluttering the text.
• The journalist's use of parenthesis in the news article helped to set off the quotes from the rest of the sentence.

Hypernyms

• Punctuation Mark