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apostrophe

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The definition of an apostrophe is the punctuation that is used to indicate possession, pluralization of abbreviations, and as an indicator of the exclusion of letters such as in a contraction.

(noun)

An example of usage of an apostrophe is to add 's to the name John when describing to whom his car belongs.

See apostrophe in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

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

Origin: L < Gr apostrophē, a turning away from the audience to address one person < apostrephein < apo-, from + strephein, to turn: see strophe

Related Forms:

apostrophic adjective

noun

a mark (') used:

to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word or phrase (Ex.: o' for of, it's for it is)
to form the possessive case of English nouns and some pronouns (Ex.: Mary's dress, the girls' club, one's duty)
to form some plurals, as of figures and letters (Ex.: five 6's, dot the i's)

Origin: Fr < LL apostrophus < Gr apostrophos (prosōidia), averted (accent): see apostrophe

Related Forms:

apostrophic adjective

See apostrophe in American Heritage Dictionary 4

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.

Origin:

Origin: French

Origin: , from Late Latin apostrophus

Origin: , from Greek apostrophos

Origin: , from apostrephein, to turn away

Origin: : apo-, apo-

Origin: + strephein, to turn; see streb(h)- in Indo-European roots

Related Forms:

apˌos·trophˈic (ăpˌə-strŏfˈĭk) adjective

noun

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.

Origin:

Origin: Late Latin apostrophē

Origin: , from Greek

Origin: , from apostrephein, to turn away; see apostrophe¹

Related Forms: