apostrophe

CEFRB1

/əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A punctuation mark showing missing letters or possession.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.

Examples

  • I changed the apostrophe to the straight one that we use.

  • TDK has decided to abolish the use of apostrophe in names of institutions.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An arrangement of chlorophyll grains perpendicular to the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to epistrophe (an arrangement on the outer surface).

  2. The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.

More examples

In context

  • Apostrophe a bold digression makes, Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes.

  • Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.

  • As is well known, chloroplast in the epistrophe position presents an oval or more or less circular form; in the apostrophe position a flattened and lenticular form.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the word don't, the blank shows where letters are missing.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).