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.

---

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 ⋎

---

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

That means it will take more income to reach each higher tax bracket next year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

For tax year 2027, a married couple filing jointly could have $104,050 in taxable income, $3,250 more than this year, and stay in the 12% bracket.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

The College Football Playoff rankings will be released every Tuesday until the final rankings and 12-team playoff bracket are revealed on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 9 a.m.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Opening the Everyman Theatre's new education and community centre in his hometown, O'Connor said: "To be considered in that same sort of bracket is extraordinary".

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

Its tail was a huge, fading, round bracket.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

And Beth Pinsker followed up with these instructions on how the new tax brackets can affect decisions on Roth IRA conversions in 2027.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

In fact, most households are subject to several brackets where the rates become progressively steeper.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

In fact, the City Section was only following rules adopted by its football coaches directing that teams be placed in brackets by strictly following where they are rated in computer rankings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

In 2023 the Pew Research Center, whose birth-year brackets fill corporate slide decks, announced it would compare generations only with data on people at similar stages of life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

I was worried it would be hard to attach the brackets to the rover's undercarriage, but it ended up being simple.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

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

Hers — a couple of capital Ms, bracketed by a heart — seems perfectly fine, and I tell her to keep it for now.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2024

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

A bracketed sign swings and creaks on the night wind.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Amazon forecasted overall revenue between $240 billion and $247 billion for the fourth quarter, bracketing the $244.2 billion FactSet consensus.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026

It also upped its top-line expectations, to between $7.14 billion and 7.20 billion, bracketing consensus.

From Barron's ● May 6, 2026

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

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025

The clusters of asteroids move roughly in tandem with Jupiter, bracketing the planet as it moves along its orbit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2023

Alby stopped walking, and Thomas was surprised to see they’d reached the South Door; the two walls bracketing the exit towered above them.

From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• category

---