Punctuation

//ˌpʌŋk.t͡ʃuˈeɪ.ʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    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). countable, uncountable

    "Different languages have different rules for punctuation."

  2. 2
    the use of certain marks to clarify meaning of written material by grouping words grammatically into sentences and clauses and phrases wordnet
  3. 3
    An act of punctuating. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases wordnet
  5. 5
    something that makes repeated and regular interruptions or divisions wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
alphabetampersandangle bracketsapostrophebracescolon

Example

More examples

"You must be more careful about spelling and punctuation."

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin punctuātiō (“a marking with points, a writing, agreement”), from punctuō (“to mark with points, settle”). Morphologically, punctuate + -ion.

Related phrases

film punctuationlogical punctuationpunctuation markpunctuation spaceunder-punctuation

More for "punctuation"

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Editorial Guides For "punctuation"

Which vs That: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses

Use which and that with confidence in formal and everyday writing.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.