bracket

American  

[brak-it] / ˈbræk ɪt /

noun

• brackets
  plural

1. a support, as of metal or wood, projecting from a wall or the like to hold or bear the weight of a shelf, part of a cornice, etc.

2. a shelf or shelves so supported.

3. a square bracket or a curly bracket.

4. Mathematics.

   1. brackets, parentheses of various forms indicating that the enclosed quantity is to be treated as a unit.

   2. (loosely) vinculum.

   3. Informal. an expression or formula between a pair of brackets.

5. a grouping of people based on the amount of their income.

   the low-income bracket.

6. a class; grouping; classification.

   She travels in a different social bracket.

7. Sports. a diagram that tracks the process of elimination among sequentially paired opponents in a tournament.

8. Architecture.

   1. any horizontally projecting support for an overhanging weight, as a corbel, cantilever, or console.

   2. any of a series of fancifully shaped false consoles beneath an ornamental cornice.

9. (on a staircase) an ornamental piece filling the angle between a riser and its tread.

10. Shipbuilding.

    1. a flat plate, usually triangular with a flange on one edge, used to unite and reinforce the junction between two flat members or surfaces meeting at an angle.

    2. any member for reinforcing the angle between two members or surfaces.

11. a projecting fixture for gas or electricity.

12. Gunnery. range or elevation producing both shorts and overs on a target.

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verb (used with object)

• brackets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bracketed,
  past participle,  past
• bracketing
  present participle

1. to furnish with or support by a bracket or brackets.

2. to place within brackets; couple with a brace.

3. to associate, mention, or class together.

   Gossip columnists often bracket them together, so a wedding may be imminent.

4. Gunnery. to place (shots) both beyond and short of a target.

5. Photography. to take (additional shots) at exposure levels above and below the estimated correct exposure.

bracket British  

/ ˈbrækɪt /

noun

1. an L-shaped or other support fixed to a wall to hold a shelf, etc

2. one or more wall shelves carried on brackets

3. architect a support projecting from the side of a wall or other structure See also corbel ancon console 2

4. Also called: square bracket.  either of a pair of characters, [ ], used to enclose a section of writing or printing to separate it from the main text

5. a general name for parenthesis square bracket brace

6. a group or category falling within or between certain defined limits

   the lower income bracket

7. the distance between two preliminary shots of artillery fire in range-finding

8. a skating figure consisting of two arcs meeting at a point, tracing the shape ⋎

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verb

1. to fix or support by means of a bracket or brackets

2. to put (written or printed matter) in brackets, esp as being irrelevant, spurious, or bearing a separate relationship of some kind to the rest of the text

3. to couple or join (two lines of text, etc) with a brace

4. (often foll by with) to group or class together

   to bracket Marx with the philosophers

5. to adjust (artillery fire) until the target is hit

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbracketed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• brackets
  plural

Participles

• bracketing
  present
• bracketed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bracket
  simple
• brackets
  simple
• have bracketed
  perfect
• has bracketed
  perfect
• am bracketing
  progressive
• are bracketing
  progressive
• is bracketing
  progressive
• have been bracketing
  perfect progressive
• has been bracketing
  perfect progressive

Past

• bracketed
  simple
• had bracketed
  perfect
• was bracketing
  progressive
• were bracketing
  progressive
• had been bracketing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bracket
  simple
• will have bracketed
  perfect
• will be bracketing
  progressive
• will have been bracketing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bracket

First recorded in 1570–80; earlier brag(g)et, from Middle French braguette “codpiece,” diminutive of Old Provençal braga “breeches” ( see brogue ² ( def. ))

Explanation

A bracket is a punctuation mark that's used to set a word or phrase aside from the rest of a sentence. Sometimes dates or other numbers in a sentence are enclosed by brackets. When you quote someone in a piece of formal writing, you can use brackets around an ellipsis, or three dots, to show you've omitted some of the actual quote: "He exclaimed, 'What a surprise to see you here [...] looking so cheerful!'" Another kind of bracket is the L-shaped support that holds a shelf against a wall, often using screws. This is the original meaning of bracket — the punctuation mark was named for the way it resembles the carpentry support.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bracket brackets bracketed bracketing

Bottom line: An individual with significant assets can still qualify for financial assistance, whereas someone with low personal income might receive little to no subsidy if their household falls into a higher income bracket.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

There’s more at stake than just a higher tax bracket.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

It doesn’t matter what those brackets are, as long as their bracket is above your bracket.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

Most savers put nearly everything in pretax because they assume they’ll be in a lower bracket in retirement.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

He wanted to bracket the full range of meaning.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

Tax brackets, Social Security payments and retirement-account contribution limits are all pegged off of it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

“We converted about $180,000 from his traditional IRA, filling the 12% and 22% brackets at a fraction of his normal tax rate,” Casey said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

That outpaced growth of 1.5% or less for higher-earning brackets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

People in lower income brackets also are more likely to have a smartphone than a laptop or desktop computer, according to data from Pew Research Center.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

The door is closed, and the lock, which is a board that lies across two brackets, is tilted and is almost out at one end.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

The company’s guidance on adjusted earnings per share, which calls for $1.02 to $1.04, bracketed the consensus view.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 11, 2026

I’m less excited about the front end, bracketed by large and kind of goofy LED arrays at the edges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

Regularly bracketed alongside Kohli, New Zealand's Kane Williamson and Steve Smith of Australia in the 'Fab Four' of Test batting, Root has enjoyed the best form of his career since the beginning of 2022.

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2024

The contiguous video display was installed recently, but the display that Madden used was a cinema-sized screen in the middle bracketed by four large flat screens on each side.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024

The infamous tangle of narrow streets and minor waterways known as the Barrel was bracketed by two major canals, East Stave and West Stave, each catering to a particular clientele.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

For the current quarter, Oracle guided for revenue growth between 19% to 21%, bracketing the 20% growth expectations implied by the FactSet consensus.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 10, 2026

It sees same-store sales up between 1% and 3%, bracketing the 2% growth it logged in the just-completed fiscal year.

From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026

He describes how he uses a technique called focus bracketing, where dozens of photos are taken.

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025

The Ford is one of two U.S. carrier strike groups bracketing the conflict.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Of all the Communist leaders deposed in the years bracketing the collapse of the Soviet Union, only Nicolae Ceaujescu met a violent death.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Related Words

• category