From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpunctuation markˌpunctuˈation mark ●●○ noun [countable] SLAa sign, such as a comma or question mark, used to divide a piece of writing into sentences, phrases etcTHESAURUStypes of punctuation markapostrophe the sign (') that is used to show that one or more letters or numbers have been left out, as in don’t, or used before ‘s’ to show that something belongs to someone or something, as in Mark’s dogbrackets British English, parentheses American English and British English formal a pair of signs ( ) used for enclosing information that interrupts a sentencecolon the sign : that is used to introduce an explanation, example, quotation etcsemicolon the sign ; that is used to separate words in a list, or different parts of a sentence that can be understood separatelycomma the sign , that is used to separate things in a list, or between two clauses in a sentencehyphen the sign – that is used to join words or syllables dash the sign — that is used to separate two closely related parts of a sentence, especially in more informal Englishfull stop British English, period American English the sign . that is used to mark the end of a sentence or the short form of a wordexclamation mark British English, exclamation point American English the sign ! that is used after a sentence or word that expresses surprise, anger, or excitementquestion mark the sign ? that is used at the end of a questionquotation marks (also inverted commas British English) a pair of signs ‘ and ’ that are put around words, especially to show that you are quoting what someone has saidother marks used in writingangle brackets British English a pair of signs <> used for enclosing informationslash a line / that is used to separate words, numbers, or lettersbackslash a line \ that is used to separate words, numbers, or lettersasterisk the sign * that is used especially to mark something interesting or importantat sign the sign @ that is used especially in email addressesampersand the sign & that means ‘and’
Examples from the Corpus
punctuation mark• He snorted quietly: an unemotional noise; a punctuation mark.• Each punctuation mark is put into a flashing mode, and another graphic character replaces each word.• Rather it was a fiery punctuation mark, a coal-like comma, or salamander semicolon, in a continuing story. 