apostrophe
apostrophe Lexical Profile
apostrophe Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A punctuation mark (') used to indicate either grammatical possession or the omission of letters or numbers in a contraction.
"Remember to place an apostrophe before the final letter to show that the notebook belongs to the student."
An exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech in which a speaker or writer breaks off from addressing the audience to directly address an absent person, an abstract quality, or an inanimate object.
"John Donne's famous poem 'Death, be not proud' is a classic literary example of an apostrophe addressed to mortality itself."
• Rhymes for apostrophe
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed via Late Latin and French from the Ancient Greek 'apostrophē', literally meaning 'a turning away' (from 'apo-' meaning 'away from' and 'strephein' meaning 'to turn'). It originally referred to the rhetorical act of turning away from an audience to address a specific person or abstract concept, and later came to denote the punctuation mark indicating the omission or 'turning away' of letters.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.