PUNCTUATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does punctuation mean? 

• PUNCTUATION (noun)
  The noun PUNCTUATION has 3 senses:

1. something that makes repeated and regular interruptions or divisions

2. the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases

3. the use of certain marks to clarify meaning of written material by grouping words grammatically into sentences and clauses and phrases

  Familiarity information: PUNCTUATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUNCTUATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that makes repeated and regular interruptions or divisions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("punctuation" is a kind of...):

break; interruption (some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

punctuation; punctuation mark

Hypernyms ("punctuation" is a kind of...):

mark (a written or printed symbol (as for punctuation))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "punctuation"):

swung dash (a punctuation mark used in text to indicate the omission of a word)

diagonal; separatrix; slash; solidus; stroke; virgule (a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information)

semicolon (a punctuation mark (';') used to connect independent clauses; indicates a closer relation than does a period)

inverted comma; quotation mark; quote (a punctuation mark used to attribute the enclosed text to someone else)

interrogation point; question mark (a punctuation mark (?) placed at the end of a sentence to indicate a question)

full point; full stop; period; point; stop (a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations)

parenthesis (either of two punctuation marks (or) used to enclose textual material)

dash; hyphen (a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text)

exclamation mark; exclamation point (a punctuation mark (!) used after an exclamation)

comma (a punctuation mark (,) used to indicate the separation of elements within the grammatical structure of a sentence)

colon (a punctuation mark (:) used after a word introducing a series or an example or an explanation (or after the salutation of a business letter))

angle bracket; bracket (either of two punctuation marks ('<' or '>') used in computer programming and sometimes used to enclose textual material)

bracket; square bracket (either of two punctuation marks ([ or ]) used to enclose textual material)

brace (either of two punctuation marks ({ or }) used to enclose textual material)

apostrophe (the mark (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters from a printed word)

ampersand (a punctuation mark (&) used to represent conjunction (and))

Holonyms ("punctuation" is a part of...):

orthography; writing system (a method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols)

Derivation:

punctuate (insert punctuation marks into)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The use of certain marks to clarify meaning of written material by grouping words grammatically into sentences and clauses and phrases

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("punctuation" is a kind of...):

grouping (the activity of putting things together in groups)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "punctuation"):

hyphenation (connecting syllables and words by hyphens)

Holonyms ("punctuation" is a member of...):

orthography; writing system (a method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols)

Derivation:

punctuate (insert punctuation marks into)

 Context examples 

Spelling and punctuation have been largely brought into conformity with modern British usage.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The worldwide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the uppercase and lowercase Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols.

(ASCII, NCI Thesaurus)

His arguments were pointed with specie—we doing the punctuation—and with a little bargaining he told us what he knew.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Her readers were not particular about such trifles as grammar, punctuation, and probability, and Mr. Dashwood graciously permitted her to fill his columns at the lowest prices, not thinking it necessary to tell her that the real cause of his hospitality was the fact that one of his hacks, on being offered higher wages, had basely left him in the lurch.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She then declaimed the little piece with an attention to punctuation and emphasis, a flexibility of voice and an appropriateness of gesture, very unusual indeed at her age, and which proved she had been carefully trained.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)