apostrophy
apostrophy is the archaic spelling of apostrophe.
Meaning of apostrophe
Noun (1)
apostrophe (plural apostrophes)
- The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
- Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 30
Noun (2)
apostrophe (countable and uncountable, plural apostrophes)
- A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
- Apostrophe a bold digression makes,
Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes.1835, L[arret] Langley, “[Rhetorical Figures.] Apostrophe.”, in A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster, South Yorkshire: […] C. White, […], →OCLC, page 28
- Apostrophe a bold digression makes,
Noun (3)
apostrophe
- An arrangement of chlorophyll grains perpendicular to the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to epistrophe (an arrangement on the outer surface).
- 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.1905 September 8, Harold Wager, “On Some Problems of Cell Structure and Physiology”, in English Mechanics and the World of Science, volume 82, number 2111, page 105
Forms of apostrophy
| plural | apostrophies |
|---|
Questions about apostrophy
- What is apostrophy the archaic spelling of?
- Apostrophy is the archaic spelling of apostrophe.
Words near apostrophy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: apostrophy (page history and authors); apostrophe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “apostrophy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apostrophy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.