punctuation mark

noun

Definition of punctuation mark

: any of various standardized marks or signs used in punctuation
punctuation mark table

Examples of punctuation mark in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The authorities assented, and Epstein apparently killed himself, a punctuation mark on the futility and incompetence of a government that had ample opportunity to bring him to justice and failed every single time. Rich Lowry, National Review, "Mistakes Were Made — Always in Jeffrey Epstein’s Favor," 13 Aug. 2019 The typical movie title in the 1980s had 0.13 punctuation marks and special characters… but in the 2010s these doubled to 0.25. Dan Kopf, Quartzy, "American movie titles: Now, with more punctuation!," 29 June 2019 In literacy, kindergarten students should know how stories and poems are the same or different; how to identify uppercase and lowercase letters; and how to recognize punctuation marks and many common words. James Vaznis, BostonGlobe.com, "In Brookline, there’s a worry that kindergarten has lost its joy," 9 July 2019 There are an increasing number of movies with not just one, but two punctuation marks! Dan Kopf, Quartzy, "American movie titles: Now, with more punctuation!," 29 June 2019 Rose Lavelle, a slender 23-year-old midfielder and master ball-handler, acts as a kind of team punctuation mark, moving into spaces to slow down or speed things up to make sense of the action around her. Rachel Bachman, WSJ, "Rock Star U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Makes World Cup," 15 Oct. 2018 Between them, Bembo; his publisher, Aldus Manutius; and Manutius’s type maker, Francesco Griffo, were introducing the world to a new punctuation mark: the semicolon. Christopher Tayler, Harper's magazine, "New Books," 24 June 2019 The interior forms a nice surface, but the wire frame acts as an abrupt punctuation mark. Quanta Magazine, "Math Duo Maps the Infinite Terrain of Minimal Surfaces," 12 Mar. 2019 Years of rampant use have both diluted the punctuation mark’s meaning and inflated its significance. Katherine Bindley, WSJ, "The Tyranny of the Exclamation Point Is Causing Email and Text Anxiety," 13 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'punctuation mark.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of punctuation mark

1849, in the meaning defined above

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More Definitions for punctuation mark

punctuation mark

noun

English Language Learners Definition of punctuation mark

: any one of the marks (such as a period, comma, or question mark) used to divide a piece of writing into sentences, clauses, etc.

punctuation mark

noun

Kids Definition of punctuation mark

: any one of the marks (as a period, comma, or question mark) used in writing to make the meaning clear and separate parts (as clauses and sentences)