parentheses
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
It was an ad for a Holocaust tour that touted in parentheses “with lunch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2024
The following day, Mr. Lawson writes “Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol” in capital letters on the board, draws a box around it, then writes the dates of the author’s birth and death in parentheses.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.