<p><strong>Noun:</strong></p><ul><li>either or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic, etc.</li><li>the material contained within these marks.</li><li>a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or sentence that interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicated in writing by commas, parentheses, or dashes, as in <em>William Smith—you must know him—is coming tonight.</em></li><li>an interval.</li></ul><p><strong>End of Response</strong></p>