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:

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

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apostrophe