Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding.
- noun An example of such omission.
- noun A mark or series of marks ( … or * * * , for example) used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In grammar, omission; a figure of syntax by which a part of a sentence or phrase is used for the whole, by the omission of one or more words, leaving the full form to be understood or completed by the reader or hearer: as, “the heroic virtues I admire,” for “the heroic virtues which I admire”; “prythee, peace,” for “I pray thee, hold thy peace.”
- noun In printing, a mark or marks, as—,* * *, …, denoting the omission or suppression of letters (as in
k —g for king) or of words. - noun In geometry, an ellipse.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Gram.) Omission; a figure of syntax, by which one or more words, which are obviously understood, are omitted.
- noun (Geom.), obsolete An ellipse.
- noun (Printing) a printing symbol, usually three periods in a row (…), indicating the omission of some part of a text; -- used commonly in quotations, so as to suppress words not essential to the meaning. A long dash (---) and three asterisks (* * *) are sometimes used with the same meaning.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun typography A
mark consisting of three periods, historically with spaces in between, before, and after them “ . . . ”, nowadays a single character “… ” (used in printing to indicate anomission ). - noun grammar, rhetoric The omission of a grammatically required word or phrase that can be inferred.
- noun film The omission of scenes in a film that do not advance the plot.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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An ellipsis is used to show that there is extended thought going on, that portions of a quote are omitted or that the reader should feel suspense.
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The other ellipsis is for the removal of “but when called to vote on withdrawing troops, disavow their own public statements.”
Think Progress » Coulter on Murtha: He Longs “To See U.S. Troops Shot, Humiliated” 2005
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Estius explains, "I might boast more of my authority, but I forbear to do so, that I may not seem as if," &c. But this ellipsis is harsh: and 2Co 10: 10, 11 confirm Bengel's view.
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For example, if you want to make someone sound like he’s trailing off in conversation, an ellipsis is probably an appropriate way to end his sentence.
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Camille or Jordan, in the fifth paragraph, where Mrs. Granger says, “since he lost his leg,” it appears the ellipsis was accidentally changed to a period.
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On the other hand, when a character's speech trails off into silence, or the narrator doesn't care to pay attention any more, a writer should use an ellipsis, which is Greek for "three little dots."
Archive 2008-05-01 2008
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Wars, Jewish Wars); alternate textual and marginal readings appear variously in roman type, italic type, within quotation marks; to indicate continuation of the Scripture quotation, sometimes ellipsis is used, at other times, "&c."
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This was the conclusion of LAPLACE; he proved that the state of our system is _stable_; that is, the ellipsis the planets describe will always remain nearly circular, and the axis of revolution of the earth will never deviate much from its present position.
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[376] _Allatae_; supply _essent_, an ellipsis, which is not very common after a conjunction, governing the subjunctive.
C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino 86 BC-34? BC Sallust
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To get that three dots aka ellipsis \ldots although if you type three periods
LinuxQuestions.org 2009
rolig commented on the word ellipsis
How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for copy-editors like me. Do you use the inelegant "three-dot" key (…) or the classier method of periods and unbreakable spaces (. . .). And do you put a space (breakable or unbreakable?) between the ellipsis and the preceding word . . . or. . . not? And what do you do if the ellipsis ends a question . . . ? And do you do something different when the ellipsis significes not the omission of part of a quotation but just trailing off, a pause, a break in the conversaton . . .
December 1, 2007
oroboros commented on the word ellipsis
Wow! The dilemma-horns of copy-editing are rife... ;oD
December 2, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word ellipsis
I'm sure rolig isn't looking for an actual answer, but...
Three-dots are not preferable, despite Microsoft Word's willingness to convert all . . .s into ...s.
You put a space between the word and the ellipses that follow ONLY when it ends the sentence, which will be very clear because the period comes first, *then* the ellipses. Like so:
"How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for . . . me."
"How to mark ellipsis is such a headache for me. . . ."
"What do you do if the ellipsis ends in a question . . . ?" is right.
And no, you don't do something different . . . when the speaker . . . just . . . trails off.
:) Fun with dots!
December 2, 2007
rolig commented on the word ellipsis
Thanks, chained bear, for the pointed lesson!
And oroboros, the idea of having to combine ellipses and emoticons . . .
December 5, 2007
pollyanna commented on the word ellipsis
Awkward or elequent?
September 26, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word ellipsis
See additional comments on whilst.
May 16, 2011