punctuate
/ˈpʰʌŋktjuːeɪt/[ˈpʰʌŋkʃɪu̯ːeɪt]
punctuate verb: to add punctuation to.
Verb
punctuate (third-person singular simple present punctuates, present participle punctuating, simple past and past participle punctuated)
- To add punctuation to.
- That occurrence of "its" needs to be punctuated as "it's".
- To add or to interrupt at regular intervals.
- My father punctuated his tirade with thumps on the desk.
- Most soldiers would testify that the everyday experience of war is long stretches of boredom punctuated by sudden, terrifying spells of disorder.2020 October 15, Frank Pasquale, “‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI”, in The Guardian
- To emphasize; to stress.
Adjective
punctuate (comparative more punctuate, superlative most punctuate)
- Point-like; consisting of or marked with one or more points.
- […] with a punctuate wound of entrance and a small wound of exit, may very properly be treated with a dry dressing and not disturbed, and in a large proportion of the cases there will be little or no tissue reaction that will require[…]1918, Franklin Henry Martin, Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, page 11
- […] with a punctuate eruption on the hard palate, and a peppery red punctuate rash becoming generalized within twenty-four hours can mean nothing else but scarlet fever. Add to this the circumoral pallor and the glandular enlargements[…]1922, Medical Review of Reviews, page 315
punctuate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
punctuate in Tamil
- கூர்முனை உரு, சிறு ஓட்டை, புள்ளி, முனை உரு
punctuate in Urdu
- اوقاف لگانا
punctuate in Malayalam
- വിരാമചിഹ്നം തുടങ്ങിയ ചിഹ്നങ്ങളിടുക, അടയാളപ്പെടുത്തുക
punctuate in Kannada
- ವಿರಾಮ ಚಿಹ್ನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಹಾಕು, ಲೇಖನ ಚಿಹ್ನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸು
Examples of punctuate in a sentence
- A punctuate signal (a) and a punctuate and diffuse signal (b).2005 March 22, Tor Savidge, Charalabos Pothulakis, Microbial Imaging, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 16:
- […] with a punctuate wall calcification (arrow) along the right postcentral sulcus.2012 November 8, Zoran Rumboldt, Mauricio Castillo, Benjamin Huang, Brain Imaging with MRI and CT: An Image Pattern Approach, Cambridge...
Forms of punctuate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | punctuates |
| present participle | punctuating |
| past participle | punctuated |
| past | punctuated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more punctuate |
| superlative | most punctuate |
Origin of punctuate
Borrowed from Medieval Latin pūnctuātus, perfect passive participle of pūnctuō (“to mark with points”), from Medieval Latin pūnctus (“a point, dot”), from pungō (“to prick, punch”); see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Doublet of punch.
Words formed from punctuate
Questions about punctuate
- What does punctuate mean?
- Punctuate means to add punctuation to.
- What is punctuate in Tamil?
- Punctuate in Tamil is கூர்முனை உரு, சிறு ஓட்டை, புள்ளி. See Punctuate meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use punctuate in a sentence?
- A punctuate signal (a) and a punctuate and diffuse signal (b).
- What part of speech is punctuate?
- Punctuate can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce punctuate?
- Punctuate is pronounced /ˈpʰʌŋktjuːeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of punctuate?
- The past tense of punctuate is punctuated.
Words near punctuate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punctuate (page history and authors); punctuate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punctuate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punctuate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punctuate (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-punctuate.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Zazollo-punctuate.wav.
Cite this entry: “punctuate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punctuate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.