ellipsis mark
Three trailing periods
An ellipsis mark is a set of three dots (. . .) used to indicate an omission or trailing off.
In quoted text, it shows where words have been left out: The Constitution guarantees "life, liberty . . . and the pursuit of happiness".
In dialogue or informal writing, it suggests a pause, hesitation, or unfinished thought: I was thinking we could maybe . . . never mind.
Also called simply an ellipsis.
- dotsSmall circular marks
- punctuationWritten clarity symbols
- trailingFollowing behind something
- omissionFailure to include
- pauseTemporary cessation of activity
dramatic pause · silence · unfinished · suspense · three · continuation · hesitation · fadeout · fade to black · implied · lost in thought · missing · truncated · dot dot dot · suspension · incomplete · pregnant pause · trailing off
ellipsis markperiod
Punctuation ending sentences
full stop · complete sentence · exclamation point · exclamation mark · verbatim
ellipsis, ellipse, ellipses, elliptic, elliptical, elliptically, mark, marks, marked