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question mark

ques·tion mark
Q q

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [kwes-chuh n mahrk]
    • /ˈkwɛs tʃən mɑrk/
    • /ˈkwestʃən mɑːk/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [kwes-chuh n mahrk]
    • /ˈkwɛs tʃən mɑrk/

Definitions of question mark words

  • noun question mark Also called interrogation point, interrogation mark. a mark indicating a question: usually, as in English, the mark (?) placed after a question. 1
  • noun question mark something unanswered or unknown: His identity is still a question mark to most of us. 1
  • noun question mark an anglewing butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis, having silver spots shaped like a question mark on the underside of each hind wing. 1
  • noun question mark interrogative punctuation symbol 1
  • noun question mark element of doubt 1
  • noun Definition of question mark in Technology (character)   "?", ASCII character 63. Common names: query; ITU-T: question mark; ques. Rare: whatmark; INTERCAL: what; wildchar; huh; hook; buttonhook; hunchback. Question mark is used, along with colon for C's lazy triadic "if" operator (similar to the IIF function in Visual Basic). The expression x?y:z evaluates x, then if x is true it returns y else it returns z. In Unix shell file name patterns, question mark matches any single character. 1
See all 13 definitions of question mark

Information block about the term

Origin of question mark

First appearance:

before 1865
One of the 28% newest English words
First recorded in 1865-70

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Question mark

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Question mark

question mark popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 34% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 59% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

question mark usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for question mark

noun question mark

  • gordian knot — pertaining to Gordius, ancient king of Phrygia, who tied a knot (the Gordian knot) that, according to prophecy, was to be undone only by the person who was to rule Asia, and that was cut, rather than untied, by Alexander the Great.
  • grabber — a person or thing that grabs.
  • enigma — A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.
  • if — a supposition; uncertain possibility: The future is full of ifs.
  • query — a question; an inquiry.
All 6 Synonyms of question mark

See also

Matching words

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