quotation mark

noun

|Updated on: 19 Jul 2018

Definition of quotation mark

: one of a pair of punctuation marks " " or ' ' used chiefly to indicate the beginning and the end of a quotation in which the exact phraseology of another or of a text is directly cited

See quotation mark defined for English-language learners

See quotation mark defined for kids

Recent Examples of quotation mark from the Web

There’s always another interview to parse, another set of quotation marks to unpack, another set of references to dissect.

— melvin backman, GQ, "At Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh Goes Over the Rainbow," 22 June 2018
Throughout the series, quotation marks indicate a subject’s exact words as written in a transcript, as recalled by a party to the conversation or as stated to a reporter, either now or at the time of the investigation.

— jsonline.com, "CHAPTER 8: "I'LL SEE HER IN HEAVEN"," 18 Oct. 2017
From the get-go, hovering quotation marks become Abloh’s signature.

— steff yotka, Vogue, "A Brief History of Virgil Abloh’s Meteoric Rise," 28 Mar. 2018
Here’s a synopsis, complete with many quotation marks because both Shia and Kanye are deeply quotable.

— emilia petrarca, The Cut, "Shia LaBeouf Says Kanye West Took All His Clothes," 13 Mar. 2018
Also the use of quotation marks with the term, assault weapon, trivializes how Americans view these guns.

— linda gandee/special to cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Perkins Local Schools superintendent to take the reins in Bay Village in August," 5 Mar. 2018
And while the book was indeed mentioned in Putin’s bibliography, the report found that nearly 16 pages of the thesis were copied word-for-word from the textbook without quotation marks, page citations and footnotes.

— ian bremmer, Time, "5 Politicos With Questionable Academic Credentials," 5 Mar. 2018
But Wohlleben doesn’t bother with quotation marks, because that would break the spell of his prose.

— diàna markosian, Smithsonian, "Do Trees Talk to Each Other?," 22 Feb. 2018
Historians such as Orlando Figes use the phrase in quotation marks, with longer explanation to inform the reader that the phrase hid mass slaughter.

— david randall, National Review, "The College Board Still Can’t See Europe Straight," 10 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'quotation mark.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of quotation mark

circa 1859

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

QUOTATION MARK Defined for English Language Learners

quotation mark

noun

Definition of quotation mark for English Language Learners

: one of a pair of punctuation marks “ ” or ‘ ’ that are used to show the beginning and the end of a quotation, to show that something is a title, to show that a word or phrase is being used in a special way, etc.