parathesis

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παράθεσις (paráthesis, “putting beside”).

Noun

parathesis (countable and uncountable, plural paratheses)

1. (grammar) The placing of two or more nouns in the same case; apposition.
   • 2007, Keith Allan, The Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics, page 102:

     Both parathesis and suntaxis are constructions but they are never treated as constituents within larger constructions.

2. (rhetoric) A parenthetical notice, usually of matter to be afterward expanded.
   • 1687, George Smalridge, Animadversions on the Eight Theses Laid Down, page 5:

     After all his Theses and their Applications, his Correspondent Alpha's and Beta's, his perplex'd Paragraphs, his intricate Paratheses, and his tædious Citations, what Doctrine of the Church of Rome has he establish'd, or what principle of Ours has he disprov'd?

   • 1712, William Innys, A Catalogue of Books Printed for and Sold by William Innys:

     The Parathesis distinguisheth and sets aside within two half-squares some word or words , which are to be farther explained

   • 2014, Horace Walpole, Nick Groom, The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story, page 115:

     Parathesis is a distinctive feature of Otranto 's punctuation, and, like the variable dashes, gives the narrative the air of a playtext.

   • 2020, Matt Colquhoun, Egress: On Mourning, Melancholy and the Fisher-Function:

     He adds, in telling and still mocking paratheses: “(I was moved)."

3. (printing) The matter contained within brackets.
4. A thorough examination of a topic, juxtaposing both thesis and antithesis in order to achieve a final synthesis.
   • 2014, Christos Boukalas, Homeland Security, its Law and its State:

     In their public discourse (books, articles, brochures, press releases), lawyers address these provisions in long paratheses, where each provision and its interpretation is added to the previous, until a specific theme (.e.g. surveillance vs privacy) is exhausted.

   • 2016, Peter Murphy, The Collective Imagination:

     The chaos of the medieval town and the clarity of its centre dominated by the cathedral and its surrounding market place replicate the subtle and simultaneous antithesis-synthesis (the parathesis) of the harmonious City of God and the fractious City of Man.

5. An abstract idea that embodies a shared social worldview.
   • 2000, Alan Dashwood, Angela Ward, Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies Vol 2, 1999, page 59:

     European Union, the redeeming parathesis of Europe's higher unity, is not a federation or a confederation, actual or potential, but a state of mind.

   • 2002, Philip Allott, The Health of Nations: Society and Law Beyond the State, page 246:

     The central focus of the parathesis society is an idea of the common wealth, the common interest and the common destiny of the society and its members. The central focus of the parathesis nation is an idea of common identity, the unity, and the common destiny of the society and its members. The central focus of the parathesis state is an idea of a shared social order under law, a mutuality of service between society and its members.

   • 2003, J. H. H. Weiler, Marlene Wind, European Constitutionalism Beyond the State, page 205:

     The making of human reality is made possible by a capacity of the human mind to create what we may call paratheses.

   • 2017, Catherine Paradeise, Marketing Democracy, page 308:

     The development of the antithetical parathesis is therefore the development of Marxism throughout the history of its embodiment in Russia.

Derived terms

• parathetic

Anagrams

• parish seat