Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To provide (a text) with punctuation marks.
- v. To interrupt periodically: "lectures punctuated by questions and discussions” ( Gilbert Highet). "[There is] a great emptiness in America's West punctuated by Air Force bases” ( Alfred Kazin).
- v. To stress or emphasize.
- v. To use punctuation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In writing and printing, to mark with points in some significant manner; specifically, to divide into sentences and parts of sentences by the conventional signs called points or marks of punctuation: as, to punctuate one's letters carefully. See punctuation.
- Figuratively, to emphasize by some significant or forcible action; enforce the important parts or points of in some special manner: as, to punctuate one's remarks by gestures.
- In entomology, same as punctured.
Wiktionary
- v. to add punctuation to
- v. to add or to interrupt at regular intervals
- v. to emphasize, to stress
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To mark with points; to separate into sentences, clauses, etc., by points or stops which mark the proper pauses in expressing the meaning.
WordNet 3.0
- v. interrupt periodically
- v. insert punctuation marks into
- v. to stress, single out as important
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin punctuare ("to mark with points"), from Latin punctus, perfect passive participle of pungō ("I prick, punch"); see point, and compare punch and punctate. (Wiktionary)
- Medieval Latin pūnctuāre, pūnctuāt-, from Latin pūnctum, point, from neuter past participle of pungere, to prick; see peuk- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Arguing about how to best punctuate is often like trying to convince someone that liking chocolate milkshakes is bad because strawberry milkshakes are good.”
“But the plot itself is transplanted straight from the book: Mr. Fox is a fearless, clever, and cunning creature who finds the tables turned when he is hunted by three local farmers who have been immortalized by an eerie children’s rhyme whose refrain punctuate the film’s darkest and most exciting moments.”
Seeing Double: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory / Fantastic Mr. Fox » Scene-Stealers
“Prof. SKINNER: Because I thought it -- we thought it was an interesting way to kind of punctuate what we had done, because we start in the other writings with some of his childhood writings, and then here's his last kind of public letter to the country as he moves into another phase of his life.”
“Children are amazing for so many reasons and one of them is that they kind of punctuate your life.”
“Like most historians, I punctuate the my linear time line with stories about people, buildings, and events, pulling facts and figures together into a coherent narrative.”
The Huffington Post: Megan Doherty: My Walking Tour With Glenn Beck, 21st Century Con Man
“We're willing enough to go along with this dubious plot point and several jarringly melodramatic episodes that punctuate an otherwise coherent narrative.”
The Surrendered: Summary and book reviews of The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee.
“The belches just come whenever they come — that keeps it fresh," he says of the burps that punctuate the monologue.”
The Wall Street Journal: A British Star With a Midwestern Accent
“The occasional shocks it delivers as revelatory images and bits of information punctuate the narrator's recitation effectively substitute for straightforward plot progression.”
“I'm of the school that what Girl Talk is doing is art -- specifically, the art of collage, taking a deft ear to hear the connections between different musical styles, finding the seams in which rap and pop and metal and several generations of new wave cannot only co-exist, but punctuate and underscore and embellish one another.”
The Huffington Post: Phil West: Collage, Alchemy, and Glowsticks: A Night With Girl Talk
“So let a slipper in velvet, silk or sequin peek out from the skirt of your evening gown or punctuate a short cocktail shift and make the best kind of statement: an understated one.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘punctuate’.
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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Faves
germane, gregarious, parlay, punctuate, insidious, enthralled, loquacious, pensive, obsequiousness, salacious, coruscate
Tweets
Looking for tweets for punctuate.
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