parenthetical
adjective
of, pertaining to, noting, or of the nature of a parenthesis.
parenthetic
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a variation of
parenthetical.
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a word derived from
parenthesis.
parenthesisnouneither or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic, etc.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That nearly 100-year-old publication instructs sentence drafters to “enclose parenthetic expressions between commas” and to “place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause.”
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2014
Sir: The clue to their success is tucked unobtrusively into one parenthetic expression that you use: "Russian is more precisely phonetic than English."
From Time Magazine Archive
In style The Duke of Milan is marked by several passages of fine poetry and a comparative absence of the parenthetic construction.
From Philip Massinger by A. H. Cruickshank
Both of them are frankly parenthetic; both parentheses are superfluous; neither has any incidental beauty to redeem it; and, above all, we may be sure that Pippa did not think in parentheses.
From Browning's Heroines by Maxwell Armfield
Two short terse sentences are clearer—hence far more effective—than one long one containing a doubtfully clear parenthetic phrase or clause.
From News Writing The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories by M. Lyle (Matthew Lyle) Spencer
