Ellipsis
//ɪˈlɪp.sɪs// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A mark consisting of multiple full stops (with or without spaces), used to indicate omitted, missing, or illegible words; or (in mathematics) that a pattern continues. countable, uncountable
"The ellipsis in 1, 2, 3, ..., 8, 9 means that the numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 are not explicitly included, but are considered to be part of the pattern."
- 2 omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences wordnet
- 3 The omission of a word or phrase that can be inferred from the context. countable, rhetoric, uncountable
- 4 The omission of scenes in a film that do not advance the plot. countable, uncountable
"It was now possible for writers and directors to cut scenes that did not further the plot; called "ellipses" by filmmakers."
- 5 An ellipse. countable, obsolete, uncountable
Example
More examples"In my language, the "," is called comma, the ";" is called semicolon, ":" is called colon, "..." are called ellipsis, and this sentence ends with a period."
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin ellīpsis, from Ancient Greek ἔλλειψις (élleipsis, “omission”). Doublet of ellipse.
Related phrases
More for "ellipsis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.