punctuate meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

punctuate

verb

UK /ˈpʰʌŋktjuːeɪt/ · US [ˈpʰʌŋkʃɪu̯ːeɪt]

Etymology 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.

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.

Derived terms: interpunctuate, mispunctuate, overpunctuate, punctuatable, punctuative, punctuator, repunctuate, underpunctuate, unpunctuate
Related terms: point, punch, punctilious, punctual, punctuality, punctuation

punctuate

adj

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:

4 more examples

Positive HPV 16 hybridization signal in two cervical carcinomas. 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 or “salt and pepper” chromatin pattern • Associated with focal epidermoid cyst or teratoma in 25% of cases • Lacks intratubular germ cell neoplasia Immunopathology (including immunohistochemistry)[…]2012 January 25, Ming Zhou, George Netto, Jonathan I Epstein, Uropathology E-Book: A Volume in the High Yield Pathology Series, Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN, page 403:
[…] 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 University Press, →ISBN, page 344:
[…] looking more punctuate. This mechanism is accompanied by a transient increase of mROS that could be inhibited by decreasing DRP1, thus decreasing DRP1/FIS1 association, and thus fission. In fasting animals, hypothalamic mitochondria appear[…]2019 April 13, Beatrice Morio, Luc Penicaud, Michel Rigoulet, Mitochondria in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: Comprehensive Review on Mitochondrial Functioning and Involvement in Metabolic Diseases, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 255:

Derived terms: nonpunctuate

punctuate

punctuate

punctuate

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