Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to bracket out

to bracket out

6.6
Put a word or short phrase in brackets to separate it from the text
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈbrækɪt aʊt/
translation icon : encerrar entre corchetes
  • She decided to bracket out the irrelevant details to focus on the main idea of her essay.

Examples

  • During the editing process, the team will bracket out sections that need more research.

  • To clarify the sentence, he chose to bracket out the phrase that was confusing the readers.

  • Once the Manettian "brick piers" and spurious 1419 "founding" are bracketed out, a new window of understanding opens on the process by which the great church came into being.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

to bracket
vsto bracket out
1 4.4

To put extra information inside square or round marks in writing

serves to set off text or show modification in writing
to parenthesize
vsto bracket out
7.0

To put words or numbers inside parentheses

uses square marks to separate or indicate modification rather than round marks

Surface Forms

bracket out infinitive
bracketed out past
bracketed out past participle
bracketing out present participle
brackets out third person singular

Morphology

bracket + out

The meaning is directly derivable from 'bracket' (to enclose in brackets) plus the particle 'out' which here signals separation or setting apart from surrounding text; the combination describes the obvious action of putting something in brackets to separate it. This follows a common verb+particle compositional pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

The verb bracket out comes from the simple action of putting words inside brackets to set them apart from the rest of the text. So, it now means 'to enclose or separate a word or phrase from the main sentence'.