■ noun Grammar a participle intended to modify a noun which is not actually present in the text.
Usage
A ~ is one which is left ‘hanging’ because it does not relate to the noun it should. For example, in arriving at the station, the sun came out , the word arriving is a ~, because the sentence reads grammatically as if it is the sun (the subject of the sentence) which is arriving . This is regarded as incorrect in standard English.