Apostrophe Definition

ə-pŏstrə-fē

apostrophes

noun

The superscript sign (') used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations.

American Heritage

Words addressed to a person or thing, whether absent or present, generally in an exclamatory digression in a speech or literary writing.

Webster's New World

The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition.

American Heritage

A mark (') used:

Webster's New World

(orthography) The text character ’, that serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
soliloquy
address
invocation
supplication
sign of possession
sign of omission
plural mark
contraction mark
pause

Other Word Forms of Apostrophe

Noun

Singular:

apostrophe

Plural:

apostrophes

Origin of Apostrophe

French from Late Latin apostrophus from Greek apostrophos from apostrephein to turn away apo- apo- strephein to turn streb(h)- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apostrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostrephō, “I turn away”).

From Wiktionary
From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophē), from ἀποστρέφω (apostrephō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apo) + στρέφω (strephō, “I turn”).

From Wiktionary
Late Latin apostrophē from Greek from apostrephein to turn away apostrophe¹

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition