parentheses

Cultural  

1. Punctuation marks — ( ) — used to separate elements in a sentence. Parentheses subordinate (see subordination) the material within them so that readers save most of their attention for the rest of the sentence: “Aunt Sarah (who is really my mother's cousin) will be visiting next week.”

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Example Sentences

It’s followed by parentheses that hold plain descriptions — red chapel relief; oil can; or, folding table and chairs, dark brown.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025

It’s less jarring than parentheses but a bigger interruption than commas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

They are listed in ascending order of their trailing-month returns, which are displayed in the parentheses.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 10, 2025

Unlike periods and commas, em dashes aren’t integral to sentence structure; they’re a considered choice that can, but by no means have to, take the place of commas, parentheses and semicolons.

From Salon • Jun. 11, 2025

Together with its grammatical category, verb, we see a label in parentheses for its grammatical function, in this case, head.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker