braces
The pair of curly marks, { }, also called curly brackets.
Braces belong to technical fields such as mathematics and computer programming, where they enclose a set or a block of code: the set {2, 4, 6}. They have no use in ordinary prose. In general writing, supplementary material takes parentheses, and words added to a quotation take brackets. See also parentheses; brackets.
Examples
UseThe solutions form the set {−1, 0, 1}. (Braces enclose the members of a mathematical set.)
AvoidThe committee {which met on Friday} approved the budget. (Braces have no use in ordinary prose; set off the clause with commas or parentheses.)