English Explanatory Dictionary

bracket

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.
  2. Any intermediate object that connects a smaller part to a larger part, the smaller part typically projecting sideways from the larger part.
  3. A short crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.
  4. The cheek or side of an ordnance carriage, supporting the trunnions.
  5. Any of the characters “(”, “)”, “[”, “]”, “{”, “}”, “⟨”, “⟩”, “<”, “>”, or the like, used in pairs to enclose parenthetic remarks, sections of mathematical expressions, etc.
  6. “(” and “)” specifically, the other forms above requiring adjectives for disambiguation.
  7. “[” and “]” specifically, as opposed to the other forms, which have their own technical names.
  8. A diagram of games in a tournament.
  9. A prediction of the outcome of games in a tournament, used for betting purposes.
  10. One of several ranges of numbers.
  11. A pair of values that represent the smallest and largest elements of a range.
  12. Typically of stationary weapons, the zone enclosed by one long and one short shot impact expected to be hit very accurately.
verb
  1. To support by means of mechanical brackets.
  2. To enclose in typographical brackets.
  3. To bound on both sides, to surround, as enclosing with brackets.
  4. To place in the same category.
  5. To mark distinctly for special treatment.
  6. To set aside, discount, ignore.
  7. To gauge the range of a target by firing equally short and long of it and ranging the weapon between the two to achieve a very accurate hit.
  8. To take multiple images of the same subject, using a range of exposure settings, in order to help ensure that a satisfactory image is obtained.
  9. In the philosophical system of Edmund Husserl and his followers, to set aside metaphysical theories and existential questions concerning what is real in order to focus philosophical attention simply on the actual content of experience.
noun
  1. Alternative form of bragget (“drink made with ale and honey”).

Pronunciation

/ˈbɹækɪt/ en-us-bracket.ogg

Word forms

bracket brackets bracketing bracketed

Etymology

From earlier bragget, *bracket, from Middle English *braget, *braket (attested in braket nail), from Old French braguette (“the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly”), a diminutive of Old French brague (“knickers, britches”), from Old Occitan braga, from Latin brāca (“pants”), from Transalpine Gaulish *brāca, from Proto-Germanic *brāks, an early form of Proto-Germanic *brōks (“leggings, breeches, trousers”).

Synonyms

parentheses parens bracket benchmark

Related words

apostrophe curly brackets brace square bracket or bracket colon comma dash ellipsis exclamation mark fraction slash guillemet hyphen interpunct interrobang bracket or parentheses (US Canada) full stop period question mark quotation marks semicolon slash stroke space

Derived words

angle bracket banana bracket birch bracket bottom bracket bracket buster bracket clock bracket creep bracketer bracket fungus bracketless bracketlike bracketology bracket race bracket racer bracket racing bracketry bracketwise brackety broket bulge bracket corner bracket curly bracket curly-bracket language diamond bracket gas bracket hair bracket hooked bracket income bracket income tax bracket Iverson bracket left bracket lenticular bracket Lie bracket multibracket pointy bracket price bracket right bracket round bracket shelf bracket square bracket superbracket tax bracket tortoise shell bracket unbracket

Translations

Albanian: kllapë Arabic: قَوْس Armenian: փակագիծ Bashkir: йәйә Belarusian: ду́жка Belarusian: ско́бка Bulgarian: ско́ба Bulgarian: ско́бка Chinese Mandarin: 括號 /括号 Czech: závorka Danish: parentes Dutch: haakje Esperanto: krampo Faroese: klombur Finnish: sulje Finnish: sulku Finnish: sulkumerkki Georgian: ფრჩხილები German: Klammer Greek: παρένθεση Greek: αγκύλη Greek: άγκιστρο Greek: γωνιώδης αγκύλη Hungarian: zárójel Irish: lúibín Italian: parentesi Japanese: 括弧 Korean: 괄호 Kumyk: жая Macedonian: заграда Manx: lhoobeen Mongolian: хаалт Norman: crotchet Polish: nawias Portuguese: parêntese Russian: ско́бка Scottish Gaelic: camag Serbo-Croatian: zagrada Serbo-Croatian: за̑града Serbo-Croatian: zȃgrada Sinhalese: වරහන් Slovak: zátvorka Slovene: oklepáj Upper Sorbian: spinka Swedish: parentes Turkish: ayraç Turkish: parantez Ukrainian: ду́жка Vietnamese: dấu ngoặc đơn
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