What does ellipsis mean?
Ellipsis is both a grammatical phenomenon and a punctuation mark. As a linguistic term, it describes the omission of words from a sentence when their meaning is recoverable from context — as in 'She can sing better than I [can],' where the final verb goes unstated. In writing, the term also names the familiar row of three dots (…) that signals omitted material, hesitation, or a thought left hanging. The word derives from the Greek elleipsis, meaning 'a falling short,' the same root behind ellipse and elliptical, which explains why the spelling trips up so many writers. Ellipsis appears most often in literary criticism, linguistics, and discussions of punctuation, but its everyday use — trailing off a sentence with dots — makes it one of the more recognizable marks on a keyboard. Mastering it means knowing both how sentences can shrink gracefully and how those three dots earn their keep.
nounThe omission of one or more words from a sentence when they are understood from context, or the mark (…) used in writing to indicate such an omission or a trailing off of thought.
- The omission from a sentence of words that are understood from context.
- A sequence of three dots (…) used in printing and writing to indicate omitted text or a pause or unfinished thought.
"The sentence 'She can play the piano better than he' relies on ellipsis, leaving out the repeated verb phrase."
"'I went to the store, and she to the bank' uses ellipsis by omitting 'went' in the second clause."
"The editor replaced the deleted paragraph with an ellipsis to show where text had been removed."
Pronounced /ɪˈlɪpsiːz/, following the Greek-style plural pattern seen in words like thesis/theses and analysis/analyses.
"The manuscript contained several ellipses where passages had been cut for length."
Those three dots you type after an unfinished thought have a Greek name meaning literally 'a falling short' — the same root that gives us the oval shape called an ellipse.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of ellipsis
Ellipsis comes from the Greek elleipsis, meaning 'a falling short, omission,' derived from elleipein ('to fall short, leave out'), itself formed from en- ('in') and leipein ('to leave'). The term entered English in the early 17th century through Latin ellipsis, initially in grammatical contexts describing omitted words. It shares its Greek root with ellipse, the name of the oval curve so called because a plane cutting a cone 'falls short' of forming a full circle, and with elliptical, which carries both the mathematical sense and a figurative sense of terse or oblique expression.
Related word forms
How ellipsis is actually used
In formal typography, style guides differ on whether to space the dots of an ellipsis and on whether it should be three or four points when it coincides with a period. In linguistics, ellipsis is a technical term for constructions like gapping and sluicing. The word is countable when referring to individual instances (plural 'ellipses') and uncountable when referring to the phenomenon generally.
Easily confused with ellipsis
An ellipse is an oval geometric curve, while ellipsis is the omission of words or the punctuation mark indicating it.
An eclipse is the obscuring of light from one celestial body by another; ellipsis refers to omitted words or a three-dot punctuation mark.