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The words are supposed to be there but have been left due to any reason. Is there a succinct term to describe such words?

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Can you provide an example of what you mean? – Alenanno May 26 '11 at 17:07
Extremely incomprehensible to me. – user8568 May 26 '11 at 17:41
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This needs more context to answer better. This could be lacuna, redaction, ellipsis, probably others, all with very different connotations. – Mitch May 26 '11 at 17:49
The word you are looking for is "            ". – JeffSahol May 26 '11 at 18:02

3 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

There's some disagreement going on here that can be attributed to differing interpretations of the question.

If the text was once there but is now missing or illegible, it is a lacuna.

If a word or phrase was left out unintentionally, it is an omission or elision.

If a word or passage has been intentionally removed, it is a redaction.

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@Jacob: so you accepted this compilation...but which one was the one you were looking for? Did the word you use fit well? what was the eventual context you want it for? – Mitch May 26 '11 at 20:02
up vote 6 down vote

It sounds like you're talking about lacunae.

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Lacunae is a great word, but it's unlikely to be understood by most people. – JSBձոգչ May 26 '11 at 17:40
I do agree it sounds like OP is looking for a noun, but these are some other ways of describing missing words that come to mind: If you strike out the words, they could be elided (though elide more commonly describes speech) or redacted. If you forgot the words, we might say they were omitted, or (in joking online) say that you accidentally a word. – aedia λ May 26 '11 at 17:54
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@JSBangs: That is irrelevant to the OP's question. Lacunae is the word that precisely fits here. – Robusto May 26 '11 at 18:02
@Robusto Some words are missing, but are there gaps? If not, lacunae does not fit. – z7sg Ѫ May 26 '11 at 18:09
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@Robusto There is no in this sentence. – z7sg Ѫ May 26 '11 at 18:30
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up vote 2 down vote

Words deliberately left out or blanked for security reasons would be redacted

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