punctuation

American  

[puhngk-choo-ey-shuhn] / ˌpʌŋk tʃuˈeɪ ʃən /

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.

4. Biology. the sudden or accelerated extinction of some species and emergence of others, occurring only in isolated periods, as set forth in the theory of punctuated equilibrium.

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punctuation British  

/ ˌpʌŋktjʊˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. the use of symbols not belonging to the alphabet of a writing system to indicate aspects of the intonation and meaning not otherwise conveyed in the written language

2. the symbols used for this purpose

3. the act or an instance of punctuating

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Other Word Forms

• nonpunctuation noun
• punctuational adjective
• punctuative adjective
• repunctuation noun

Etymology

Origin of punctuation

First recorded in 1530–40; from Medieval Latin pūnctuātiōn- (stem of pūnctuātiō ) “a marking, pointing”; see punctuate, -ion

Explanation

Punctuation is marking that clarifies sentences. if you write a sentence that is a string of words even if theyre good words but you do it without punctuation then it will look like this making your reader unhappy Punctuation tells you when a sentence has come to an end, or if it's a question, and you can't write a sentence without at least one punctuation mark: the period. You can also use punctuation to talk about non-verbal emphasis. If you tell your dog to stop chewing your shoe, you might stamp your foot as punctuation. A slow speaker who chews slightly at the end of each sentence has an unfortunate kind of punctuation.

Example Sentences

Fold in dill, chives and scallions — not as garnish, but as punctuation.

From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026

“Almost every printed or manuscript copy of the Declaration produced in 1776 varies in format, type size, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

When you type a question into your favorite AI chatbot, it turns it into tokens representing words, parts of words, and punctuation.

From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026

The review refers to the "so-called 'rules-based international order'", putting the latter phrase in inverted commas: a kind of delegitimisation by punctuation mark.

From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026

I have preserved original spelling and punctuation in quotations, except that I have regularized ‘u’ and ‘v’, and ‘i’ and ‘j’.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton