Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Set off within or as if within parentheses; qualifying or explanatory.
  • adjective Using or containing parentheses.
  • noun A parenthetical word, phrase, or remark.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to or of the nature of a parenthesis; expressed as or in a parenthesis: as, a parenthetical clause.
  • Using or containing parentheses: as, a parenthetical style.
  • Occurring like a parenthesis or episode; incidental.
  • Curved; bowed; resembling in shape the marks called parentheses.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective using, containing, or within parentheses (like this)
  • adjective that explains or qualifies something
  • adjective that is incidental
  • noun a word or phrase within parentheses

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective qualifying or explaining; placed or as if placed in parentheses
  • noun an expression in parentheses

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Churchill believed you could do what he called parenthetical praise; that later on, you could say, ` And, by the way, I've spoken to many audiences.

    Confessions of a White House Ghostwriter: Five Presidents and other Political Adventures 1997

  • A correspondent from Armenia writes to ask about the origins of you know as a parenthetical conversational 'filler'.

    Archive 2007-08-01 DC 2007

  • A correspondent from Armenia writes to ask about the origins of you know as a parenthetical conversational 'filler'.

    On you know DC 2007

  • But then the writer, who is really amusing himself by now, is all excited that he got to use the fifty-cent word "parenthetical" within a parenthetical, which is almost as good as having an intalicized footnote.

    WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5: WWdN in Exile Archives 2006

  • But then the writer, who is really amusing himself by now, is all excited that he got to use the fifty-cent word "parenthetical" within a parenthetical, which is almost as good as having an intalicized footnote.

    WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5: April 2006 Archives 2006

  • But then the writer, who is really amusing himself by now, is all excited that he got to use the fifty-cent word "parenthetical" within a parenthetical, which is almost as good as having an intalicized footnote.

    WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5: Television Archives 2006

  • For reasons I'll get to in a minute, I wish that the parenthetical were a bit more artfully worded.

    The Dichotomy of Style 2009

  • For reasons I'll get to in a minute, I wish that the parenthetical were a bit more artfully worded.

    Archive 2009-09-01 2009

  • I'm still not sure how the so-called parenthetical bit gets into the sentence.

    On who(m)ever DC 2008

  • My parenthetical was a snide dig at the Pauls of the world who want their racism excused as simply "un-PC".

    Will sensitivity about racism turn racism into a taboo subject? Ann Althouse 2007

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