ellipsis

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ellipsis †ellipse XVI; (gram.) omission of words supposed to be essential to the complete form of a sentence XVII. — L. ell¯psis — Gr. élleipsis defect, ellipse (conic section), grammatical ellipsis, f. elleípein leave out, fall short, f. en IN + leípein leave.
So elliptic XVIII. elliptical pert. to an ellipse XVII; (gram.) XVIII. — Gr. elleiptikós (chiefly gram.) defective.

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