Punctuation - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

punc·tu·a·tion

Audio Help [puhngk-choo-ey-shuh

n] Pronunciation Key

–noun

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 separating clauses.

2.	the act of punctuating.

3.	punctuation marks.

[Origin: 1530–40; < ML pūnctuātiōn- (s. of pūnctuātiō) a marking, pointing. See punctuate, -ion

]

—Related forms

punc·tu·a·tion·al, punc·tu·a·tive, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Punctuation

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

punc·tu·a·tion Audio Help (pŭngk'chōō-ā'shən) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. The use of standard marks and signs in writing and printing to separate words into sentences, clauses, and phrases in order to clarify meaning.
2. The marks so used.
The act or an instance of punctuating.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
punctuation

1539, "pointing of the psalms," from M.L. punctuationem (nom. punctuatio) "a marking with points," from punctuatus, pp. of punctuare "to mark with points or dots," from L. punctus "a prick" (see point). Meaning "system of inserting pauses in written matter" is recorded from 1661.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

punctuation
noun
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

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
punctuation1 noun

the act of punctuating

Arabic:	تَشْكيل الجُمَل، وَضْع علامات الوقْف والفواصِل
Chinese (Simplified):	点标点
Chinese (Traditional):	點標點
Czech:	rozčlenění na části
Danish:	tegnsætning
Dutch:	het aanbrengen van leestekens
Estonian:	kirjavahemärgistus
Finnish:	välimerkeillä varustaminen
French:	ponctuation
German:	die Interpunktion
Greek:	στίξη
Hungarian:	írásjelek kitevése
Icelandic:	greinarmerkjasetning
Indonesian:	pemberian tanda baca
Italian:	punteggiatura

Japanese:	句読
Korean:	구두점 찍기
Latvian:	pieturzīmju lietošana
Lithuanian:	skyrybos ženklų dėjimas
Norwegian:	tegnsetting
Polish:	stosowanie interpunkcji
Portuguese (Brazil):	pontuação
Portuguese (Portugal):	pontuação
Romanian:	(punere a semnelor de) punctuaţie
Russian:	расстановка знаков препинания
Slovak:	rozčlenenie na časti
Slovenian:	postavljanje ločil
Spanish:	puntuación
Swedish:	interpunktion
Turkish:	noktalama işaretlerini koyma

punctuation2 noun

the use of punctuation marks

Arabic:	إسْتِعمال علامات الوَقْف والفَواصِل
Chinese (Simplified):	标点法
Chinese (Traditional):	標點法
Czech:	interpunkce
Danish:	tegnsætning
Dutch:	interpunctie
Estonian:	kirjavahemärgistamine
Finnish:	välimerkkien käyttö
French:	ponctuation
German:	die Interpunktion
Greek:	στίξη
Hungarian:	központozás
Icelandic:	greinarmerkjasetning
Indonesian:	penggunaan tanda baca
Italian:	punteggiatura

Japanese:	句読
Korean:	구두법
Latvian:	interpunkcija
Lithuanian:	skyryba, punktuacija
Norwegian:	tegnsetting
Polish:	interpunkcja
Portuguese (Brazil):	pontuação
Portuguese (Portugal):	pontuação
Romanian:	punctuaţie
Russian:	пунктуация
Slovak:	interpunkcia
Slovenian:	uporaba ločil
Spanish:	puntuación
Swedish:	interpunktion
Turkish:	noktalama işaretlerinin kullanımı

See also: punctuate, punctuation mark

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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 author's meaning.

Note: Punctuation, as the term is usually understood, is chiefly performed with four points: the period [.], the colon [:], the semicolon [;], and the comma [,]. Other points used in writing and printing, partly rhetorical and partly grammatical, are the note of interrogation [?], the note of exclamation [!], the parentheses [()], the dash [--], and brackets []. It was not until the 16th century that an approach was made to the present system of punctuation by the Manutii of Venice. With Caxton, oblique strokes took the place of commas and periods.

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