POINT

POINT.
1. The sign (.), in WRITING made with the point of a pen or pencil, known as a period, full stop, or full point when used to close a sentence that expresses a statement, including elliptical sentences and SENTENCE fragments, as in: They did not want to refuse. They didn't want to. On the contrary. The point marks the close of, or elements in, many ABBREVIATIONS (Thurs., Cen., a.m., B.B.C.) and follows INITIAL letters, as with the M in William M. Thackeray. It is, however, increasingly omitted in INITIALISMS (BBC, GMT), almost always omitted in ACRONYMS (Nato, yuppie), and, especially in BrE, generally omitted in abbreviations such as Mr and Dr. A set of ELLIPSIS POINTS is used to mark gaps in writing, especially words omitted from a quotation, as in: ‘All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know’ reduced to ‘All the business of war … is to … find out what you don't know’ (quoting the Duke of Wellington, Croker Papers, 1885). When such points are used to mark a pause, they are called suspension points, as in Tell him, uh … to wait a moment.

2. Also decimal point. The sign (˙) or (·) used in decimal numbers, as in 2.22 or 2·22. Compare the decimal comma in Continental European practice, as in 2,22.

3. A periodic sentence.

4. In phonetics and orthography, a diacritical mark with various values: for example, in the modern transcription of Old English, sometimes placed above the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced ‘ch’ as in church, in such words as ċild (child) and ċiriċe (church). See DIACRITIC, DOT, PUNCTUATION.