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

At 40, he says in the special that people in his age bracket have become the “Sandwich Generation.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Contribute to a Roth while you are in a low tax bracket.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

Assigning the Roth account to a child in a high tax bracket and the traditional account to one in a lower bracket can help equalize after-tax values.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

And after a positive start in Spain, where he has already picked up five assists in La Liga, Gordon looks to be joining boss Thomas Tuchel's "undroppable" bracket.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

I slide the bar beneath the bracket, and with all my strength, I bear down with a single swift push.

From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

Income brackets rise with inflation, but last year the top 2% of taxpayers earned at least $371,000 for single filers and $743,000 for joint filers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Ahead of the Bangkok talks, Cordano released an "aid to negotiations" -- a non-binding outline of a possible treaty, with brackets around the most contentious sections.

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

Let’s begin with an example that incorporates only state and local income-tax brackets, with the most commonly cited benchmark bond.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

People across income brackets are still traveling, but many are altering their behaviors to make vacations fit into their budget, Wynn says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Lord Asriel spoke to the man briefly and showed the others into the carriage, which, like the hall, was lit by those glowing crystals, held on silver brackets against mirrored mahogany panels.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

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

While adverts have long bracketed sporting action on commercial television in the United Kingdom, it was the first time they had made a mid-match incursion into the viewing experience.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 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

For my birthday, she gifted me a T-shirt featuring a worm with a mustache bracketed by the phrase “You’re a Worm with a Mustache.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024

Swarms of mutant bugs, billions of them, they had him bracketed.

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

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

We looked down at La Mutua’s logo emblazoned on the main hall’s hardwood floor — “S.P.M.D.T.U.” bracketing two clasped hands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

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