What does "bracket" mean?
A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.
Bracket
/ˈbɹækɪt/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.
- Grammar: bracket is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: angle bracket, square bracket, accouple, accumulate.
- Useful contrasts: delete, detach, disperse.
- Usage evidence: Use the apparatus only with the cart, tripod, bracket or table specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus.
How to use "bracket"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bracket" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bracket" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bracket" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bracket" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bracket" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "angle bracket" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bracket", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf.
- 2 Alternative form of bragget (“drink made with ale and honey”). alt-of, alternative, uncountable
- 3 a support projecting from a wall (as to hold a shelf) wordnet
- 4 Any intermediate object that connects a smaller part to a larger part, the smaller part typically projecting sideways from the larger part.
"To determine if your frame has this bottom bracket type, look for a notched and possibly knurled lockring on the left side (the side without the chainrings)."
- 5 either of two punctuation marks (‘[’ or ‘]’) used to enclose textual material wordnet
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 A short crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.
- 7 either of two punctuation marks (‘<’ or ‘>’) used in computer programming and sometimes used to enclose textual material wordnet
- 8 The cheek or side of an ordnance carriage, supporting the trunnions.
- 9 a category falling within certain defined limits wordnet
- 10 Any of the characters “(”, “)”, “[”, “]”, “{”, “}”, “⟨”, “⟩”, “<”, “>”, or the like, used in pairs to enclose parenthetic remarks, sections of mathematical expressions, etc.; “(” and “)” specifically, the other forms above requiring adjectives for disambiguation. UK
- 11 Any of the characters “(”, “)”, “[”, “]”, “{”, “}”, “⟨”, “⟩”, “<”, “>”, or the like, used in pairs to enclose parenthetic remarks, sections of mathematical expressions, etc.; “[” and “]” specifically, as opposed to the other forms, which have their own technical names. US
- 12 A diagram of games in a tournament.
- 13 A prediction of the outcome of games in a tournament, used for betting purposes.
- 14 One of several ranges of numbers.
"tax bracket, age bracket"
- 15 A pair of values that represent the smallest and largest elements of a range.
- 16 Typically of stationary weapons, the zone enclosed by one long and one short shot impact expected to be hit very accurately.
- 17 The small curved or angular corner formed by a serif and a stroke in a letter.
- 18 a mark cut into a stone by land surveyors to secure a bench. obsolete
Verb
- 1 To support by means of mechanical brackets.
- 2 classify or group wordnet
- 3 To enclose in typographical brackets.
- 4 place into brackets wordnet
- 5 To bound on both sides, to surround, as enclosing with brackets.
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 support with brackets wordnet
- 7 To place in the same category.
"Because they didn’t have enough young boys for two full teams, they bracketed the seven-year-olds with the eight-year-olds."
- 8 To mark distinctly for special treatment.
"Next, since so much social activity is defined by being bracketed out of the world of ongoing events, it becomes possible that outside such bracketed episodes, […] people are — especially beforehand, but also afterwards — to some extent "out of role", and so off their guard."
- 9 To set aside, discount, ignore.
"SIL got access to academic legitimacy; linguists bracketed the evangelical engine that drives SIL because they got access to data and tools."
- 10 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.
- 11 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.
- 12 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.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Use the apparatus only with the cart, tripod, bracket or table specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bracket"?
Common synonyms include: angle bracket, square bracket, accouple, accumulate, advocate, agglutinate.
How do you use "bracket" in a sentence?
Use the apparatus only with the cart, tripod, bracket or table specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus.
How do you pronounce "bracket"?
Pronounced /ˈbɹækɪt/.
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”).