Webster's English Dictionary

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parenthesis

pa.ren.the.sis or par.en.thet.i.cal \p*-'ren(t)-th*-s*s\ \-th*-.se-z\ 
   \.par-*n-'thet-ik\ \-i-k*l\ \-k(*-)le-\ n or pa.ren.the.ses [LL, fr. Gk, 
   lit., act of inserting, fr. parentithenai to insert, fr. ] pl para- + en- + 
   tithenai to place - more at DO 1a: an amplifying or explanatory word, 
   phrase, or sentence inserted in a pa ssage from which it is usu. set off by 
   punctuation 1b: a remark or passage that departs from the theme of a 
   discourse : D IGRESSION 2: INTERLUDE, INTERVAL  3: one of the curved marks 
   . used in writing and printing to enclose a pare nthetic expression or to 
   group a symbolic unit in a logical or mathematical expression - 
   par.en.thet.i.c aj