Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
Used in a Sentence
parentheses
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for parentheses.
Editorial note
Technically, a CFG is the intersection of an n-balanced parentheses language and a regular language.
Examples15
Definitions4
Parts of speech1
Quick take
Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of parentheses gathered in one view.
(rhetoric) A digression; the use of such digressions.
A clause, phrase or word which is inserted (usually for explanation or amplification) into a passage which is already grammatically complete, and usually marked off with brackets, commas or dashes.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for parentheses.
noun
Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
noun
(rhetoric) A digression; the use of such digressions.
noun
A clause, phrase or word which is inserted (usually for explanation or amplification) into a passage which is already grammatically complete, and usually marked off with brackets, commas or dashes.
noun
(mathematics, logic) Such brackets as used to clarify expressions by grouping those terms affected by a common operator, or to enclose the components of a vector or the elements of a matrix.
Example sentences
Technically, a CFG is the intersection of an n-balanced parentheses language and a regular language.
The only actual difference in that example is that print became a function in Python 3, requiring some additional parentheses.
I admit though there is something about lisp that I just really like (perhaps I'm addicted to parentheses).
But, I guess I am one of those people who just can't unsee the parentheses in lisp languages.
Lua's LPeg lets you create simple recursive grammars to solve problems that are often hard with regular expressions (e.g., matching balanced parentheses).
I was about to take pity on you and lower the G, but removed the parentheses instead.
In addition, put the odd unit in parentheses, not the SI one.
Hahaha I don't think putting stimulus generalization in parentheses makes my explanation any more complex.
Adding parentheses disambiguates between the new and the old function syntax.
Personally, I think the parentheses are visually appealing, but it's probably an acquired taste.
Overloading whitespace as syntax to avoid parentheses is truly twisted...
It's just an anecdote, but I notice less complaining about parentheses, too.
Quote examples
To sum it all up: most "regular expression" implementations are actually powerful enough to describe context-free grammars, which are essentially regular expressions mixed with balanced parentheses.
When I have to write new code I'm always in a dither - "Do I need parentheses here?", etc.
To consider function types, or unjustified assumptions about bitfield unions, or use of parentheses to control nesting of arrays and pointers in declaration "strange" one must be averse to the C language to the point of intolerance.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use parentheses in a sentence?
Technically, a CFG is the intersection of an n-balanced parentheses language and a regular language.
What does parentheses mean?
Either of a pair of brackets, especially (mainly US) round brackets, ( and ) (used to enclose parenthetical material in a text).
What part of speech is parentheses?
parentheses is commonly used as noun.