From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be in apposition, and one of the elements is called the appositive, but its identification requires consideration of how the elements are used in a sentence.
I'm reminded of the parts of a definition. By this analogy, if the apposition is the definition, then the appositive is the definiens. What then is the term for the equivalent of the definiendum?
Specifically, I am interested in the parentheses which appear in contracts and other legalese:
- Tenant has thirty (30) days to . . .
- . . . twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) . . .
Some StackExchange user called these constructs "reformulatory appositive parenthetical" but I cannot find any other reference of this term. Nonetheless, in the abscence of my finding of a suitable technical term for these constructs, I think that's a suitable way of describing these.
- thirty = ?
- (30) = appositive parenthetical
- twenty-five million dollars = ?
- ($25,000,000) = appositive parenthetical