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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Comma

/ˈkɒmə/ · noun

Meaning

(typography) The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list..

Definitions by Sense

  1. (typography) The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.
  2. (Romanian typography) A similar-looking subscript diacritical mark.
  3. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Polygonia, having a comma-shaped white mark on the underwings, especially Polygonia c-album and Polygonia c-aureum of North Africa, Europe, and Asia.
  4. (music) A difference in the calculation of nearly identical intervals by different ways.
  5. (genetics) A delimiting marker between items in a genetic sequence.
  6. (rhetoric) In Ancient Greek rhetoric, a short clause, something less than a colon, originally denoted by comma marks. In antiquity it was defined as a combination of words having no more than eight syllables in all. It was later applied to longer phrases, e.g. the Johannine comma.
  7. (figurative) A brief interval.
  8. (rare, transitive) To place a comma or commas within text; to follow, precede, or surround a portion of text with commas.

Example Sentences

No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting the colon and the period; but, after some time, a short oblique stroke, called a virgil, was introduced, which answered to the modern comma. In the fifteenth century this punctuation was improved by the famous Aldus Manutius with the typographical art in general; when he gave a better shape to the comma, added the semicolon, and assigned to the former points more proper places.
Commas (Polygonia comma) and Question Marks (Polygonia interrogationis) occur from the Gulf Coast to Canada and west to the Rockies. [...] Question Marks and Commas are handsome butterflies with burnt orange and black markings. [...] On the underside of each hind wing of the Comma is a small, distinctive silver hook that resembles a comma.
Other members of this genus that are frequently encountered in the park are the eastern comma (P. comma) and question mark (P. interrogationis).

Synonyms for comma

scratch commavirgulevirgulacomecomma-pointcomma butterflypolygonia comma

Antonyms for comma

Related Words

comma butterflypolygonia commasemicoloncolonparagraphsubparagraphdecimalpointsemi-colonsyntonicpartysentenceindentstrokedelecomaeatpenvibriodagan

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does comma mean?

Comma means (typography) The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list..

What is a synonym for comma?

Common synonyms include scratch comma, virgule, virgula, come.

What is the opposite of comma?

The opposite depends on the specific sense.

How do you use comma in a sentence?

No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting the colon and the period; but, after some time, a short oblique stroke, called a virgil, was introduced, which answered to the modern comma. In the fifteenth century this punctuation was improved by the famous Aldus Manutius with the typographical art in general; when he gave a better shape to the comma, added the semicolon, and assigned to the former points more proper places.

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.