punctuation
A set of symbols and marks which are used to clarify meaning in text by separating strings of words into clauses, phrases and sentences; examples include commas, hyphens, and stops (periods).
Example
“Different languages have different rules for punctuation.”
Other meanings
An act of punctuating.
Related words
- interpunctuation
- mispunctuation
- nonpunctuation
- overpunctuation
- punctuational
- punctuationism
- punctuationist
- punctuationless
- repunctuation
- underpunctuation
- film punctuation
- logical punctuation
Example sentences
Word history
From Medieval Latin "punctuātiō" (a marking with points, a writing, agreement).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “punctuation” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.