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bracket

n. · v.
US //ˈbɹækɪt// UK //bɹˈækɪt// brack·et
  1. 1 wall support (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a piece of metal or wood attached to a wall to hold up a shelf or other object.

    a structural fixture, typically L-shaped, attached to a vertical surface to support a horizontal projection such as a shelf or beam.

    Example

    He bought two metal brackets to put up a new bookshelf in the office.

    Example

    The heavy oak mantelpiece was secured by ornate wrought-iron brackets that had been custom-forged to match the room's Victorian aesthetic.
  2. 2 punctuation marks (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    marks like ( ) or [ ] used in writing to separate extra information from the rest of the sentence.

    any of several pairs of typographical marks used to enclose parenthetical information or mathematical expressions.

    Example

    The author's birth date was written in brackets after his name.

    Example

    The editor suggested placing the supplementary data in square brackets to distinguish it from the primary citations within the text.

    Usage

    In British English, 'brackets' usually refers to ( ), while in American English, these are called 'parentheses' and 'brackets' refers to [ ].
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  1. 3 a range or category (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a group of people or things within a certain range, like an age group or a tax level.

    a defined category or range within a series of values, often used for demographic or financial classification.

    Example

    Most of the people at the concert were in the 18-25 age bracket.

    Example

    The government introduced a new tax bracket for high earners to increase revenue for public infrastructure projects.
  2. 4 tournament diagram (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate American English Sport

    a diagram that shows which teams play each other in a competition.

    a tree diagram representing the series of games in an elimination tournament.

    Example

    I filled out my tournament bracket, but my favorite team lost in the first round.

    Example

    The underdog's unexpected victory completely disrupted the regional bracket, forcing analysts to revise their championship predictions.
  3. 5 to group together (v.)
    C1 Advanced Formal

    to put two or more people or things into the same category.

    to classify or group distinct entities together, often implying they share similar characteristics.

    Example

    It is unfair to bracket all young people together as if they all have the same opinions.

    Example

    Critics often bracket these two composers together because of their shared use of folk melodies, despite their vastly different harmonic languages.
  4. 6 photography (v.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Photography

    to take several photos of the same thing with different settings to get the best one.

    to take multiple shots of the same subject using different exposure values to ensure at least one is correctly exposed.

    Example

    When the lighting is tricky, it is a good idea to bracket your shots.

    Example

    The photographer decided to bracket the exposure by two stops to capture the full detail of the sunset against the dark foreground.

Origin

From earlier bragget, bracket, from Middle English braget, braket (attested in braket nail), from Old French braguette (“the opening in the fore part of a pair of breeches, one's fly”), a diminutive of Old French brague (“knickers, britches”), from Old Occitan braga, from Latin brāca (“pants”), from Transalpine Gaulish brāca, from Proto-Germanic brāks, an early form of Proto-Germanic brōks (“leggings, breeches, trousers”).

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