| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| decimal point | |
| —n | |
| a full stop or a raised full stop placed between the integral and fractional parts of a number in the decimal system | |
| usage Conventions relating to the use of the decimal point are confused. The IX General Conference on Weights and Measures resolved in 1948 that the decimal point should be a point on the line or a comma, but not a centre dot. It also resolved that figures could be grouped in threes about the decimal point, but that no point or comma should be used for this purpose. These conventions are adopted in this dictionary. However, the Decimal Currency Board recommended that for sums of money the centre dot should be used as the decimal point and that the comma should be used as the thousand marker. Moreover, in some countries the position is reversed, the comma being used as the decimal point and the dot as the thousand marker | |
| decimal fraction
A decimal having no digits to the left of the decimal point except zero, such as 0.2 or 0.00354. |
The point or dot placed to the left of decimals to separate them from the whole number portion of the decimal. When the number is spoken aloud, the word point is usually used to signify the decimal point. For example, “8.3” is read “eight point three.”