ellipsis

5 synonyms for ellipsis, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A row of three dots (…) used in writing to show that words have been left out of a quotation, or that a thought trails away unfinished.

Synonyms

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

omission

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

suspension points dot dot dot eclipsis elision

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun

A row of three dots (…) used in writing to show that words have been left out of a quotation, or that a thought trails away unfinished.

“The review quoted him as saying the film was "ambitious … but far too long".”

suspension points dot dot dot eclipsis

2. noun technical

The leaving out of words from a sentence when the meaning is still clear without them.

“"Sam plays piano and Jo guitar" uses ellipsis, since the second "plays" is understood.”

omission elision

How to use ellipsis

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

an ellipsis indicates use an ellipsis trail off in an ellipsis

Neutral; the grammatical sense belongs to linguistics and language teaching.

Etymology

From Greek elleipsis "omission, a falling short", from elleipein "to leave out", via Latin.

Full origin of ellipsis →

Frequently asked questions

How many dots are in an ellipsis?

Three. If the omission ends a sentence, a fourth dot may appear, but that is the full stop of the sentence rather than part of the ellipsis itself.

What is the plural of ellipsis?

Ellipses, pronounced ih-LIP-seez. Note that this is spelled the same as the plural of ellipse, the oval shape, though the two words are unrelated in meaning.

Should there be spaces around an ellipsis?

British style commonly puts a space either side, as in "ambitious … but long", while American style often closes it up or spaces each dot. Pick one convention and apply it consistently.

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