apostrophenoun [ C ]
uk/əˈpɒs.trə.fi/us/əˈpɑː.strə.fi/B2 the symbol ’ used in writing to show when a letter or a number has been left out, as in I'm (= I am) or '85 (= 1985), or that is used before or after s to show possession, as in Helen's house or babies' hands:
"It's" with an apostrophe means "it is" or "it has".
sometimes used before s to show the plural of a number or a letter:
There are two p's in "supper".
More examples
- We spent Christmas Day with Ben's parents.
- This book is the fruit of 15 years' research.
- Simon has a clear-sighted vision of the company's future.
- Our neighbour's baby cries morning, noon and night.
- I'm sure my views on marriage are coloured by my parents' divorce.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Punctuation
- ampersand
- asterisk
- caron
- cedilla
- dash
- ditto
- ellipsis
- grave (accent)
- guillemet
- hyphen
- hyphenate
- lower case
- parentheses
- period
- punctuation
- punctuation mark
- question mark
- quotation marks
- tilde
- upper case
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