apostrophe: Meaning and Definition of

a•pos•tro•phe

Pronunciation: (u-pos'tru-fē), [key]
— n.
  1. the sign ('), as used: to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a word, whether unpronounced, as in o'er for over, or pronounced, as in gov't for government; to indicate the possessive case, as in man's; or to indicate plurals of abbreviations and symbols, as in several M.D.'s, 3's.

a•pos•tro•phe

Pronunciation: (u-pos'tru-fē), [key]
— n. Rhet.
  1. a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as “O Death, where is thy sting?”
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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