Background for ellipsis

ellipsis

/ɪˈlɪpsɪs/

Illustration ellipsis - Image 1

noun

A mark consisting of (in English) three periods, historically or more formally with spaces in between, before, and after them “ . . . ”, or more recently a single character “…” Ellipses are used to indicate that words have been omitted in a text or that they are missing or illegible.

Examples :

"Instead of writing out the entire recipe, the cookbook used an ellipsis "..." to show that some steps were skipped for brevity. "

grammar language writing mark literature linguistics

Illustration ellipsis - Image 1

noun

(grammar) The omission of a word or phrase that can be inferred from the context.

Examples :

""Instead of saying 'Did you go to the store and did you buy milk?', I used an ellipsis and asked, 'Did you go to the store and buy milk?'" "

grammar language linguistics

Illustration ellipsis - Image 1

noun

The omission of scenes in a film that do not advance the plot.

Examples :

"The film used ellipsis to skip over the character's boring commute to work, focusing instead on the important meeting. "

media entertainment story

Illustration ellipsis - Image 1

noun

Examples :

"The orbit of the Earth around the sun is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse. "