punctuation

punctuation
\ \ [16] Punctuation is one of a small family of English words that go back to punctus, the past participle of Latin pungereprick’ (source of English expunge [17], poignant [14], and pungent [16]). They include point, which arrived via Old French; punctilious [17] (which comes via Italian and may be related to pun) and punctual [14], both of them containing the etymological notion of ‘adherence to a precise point’; puncture [14]; puntbet’; and punctuation itself, whose present-day meaning comes from the insertion of ‘points’ or dots into written texts to indicate pauses (also termed pointing from the 15th to the 19th centuries).
\ \ Cf.EXPUNGE, POIGNANT, POINT, PUNGENT, PUNT

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Punctuation — is everything in written language other than the actual letters or numbers, including punctuation marks (listed at right), inter word spaces and indentation. *cite book last = Amis | first = Kingsley | authorlink = Kingsley Amis | coauthors = |… …   Wikipedia

  • Punctuation — Punc tu*a tion, n. [Cf. F. ponctuation.] (Gram.) The act or art of punctuating or pointing a writing or discourse; the art or mode of dividing literary composition into sentences, and members of a sentence, by means of points, so as to elucidate… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • punctuation — 1530s, pointing of the psalms, from M.L. punctuationem (nom. punctuatio) a marking with points, noun of action from pp. stem of punctuare to mark with points or dots, from L. punctus a prick (see POINT (Cf. point)). Meaning system of inserting… …   Etymology dictionary

  • punctuation — see the individual entries for apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, exclamation mark, full stop, hyphen …   Modern English usage

  • punctuation — Punctuation, Interpunctio, Distinctio, Interpunctum interpuncti …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • punctuation — ► NOUN 1) the marks, such as full stop, comma, and brackets, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning. 2) the use of such marks. DERIVATIVES punctuational adjective …   English terms dictionary

  • punctuation — [puŋk΄cho͞o ā′shən] n. [ML punctuatio: see PUNCTUATE] 1. the act of punctuating; specif., the act or practice of using standardized marks in writing and printing to separate sentences or sentence elements or to make the meaning clearer 2. a… …   English World dictionary

  • punctuation — punctuational, punctuative, adj. /pungk chooh ay sheuhn/, n. 1. the practice or system of using certain conventional marks or characters in writing or printing in order to separate elements and make the meaning clear, as in ending a sentence or… …   Universalium

  • punctuation — [[t]pʌ̱ŋktʃue͟ɪʃ(ə)n[/t]] 1) N UNCOUNT Punctuation is the use of symbols such as full stops or periods, commas, or question marks to divide written words into sentences and clauses. He was known for his poor grammar and punctuation. 2) N UNCOUNT… …   English dictionary

  • punctuation — punc|tu|a|tion [ ,pʌŋktʃu eıʃn ] noun uncount 1. ) the use of marks such as PERIODS or COMMAS in order to write in a clear style: Mistakes in punctuation can be amended. The letter was brief and had no punctuation. 2. ) punctuation marks …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • punctuation — UK [ˌpʌŋktʃuˈeɪʃ(ə)n] / US noun [uncountable] 1) the use of marks such as full stops or commas in order to write in a clear style Mistakes in punctuation can be amended. The letter was brief and had no punctuation. 2) punctuation marks …   English dictionary

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