semicolons
- 1Plural of semicolon.
Editors often replace stray commas with semicolons to join closely related clauses.
The style guide warns against scattering semicolons across an otherwise simple paragraph.
Note
A regular plural that simply adds -s, with no change to the stem: one semicolon, three semicolons. Because the singular names the mark ; itself, the plural counts its appearances on a page, so a writer uses semicolons, never "much semicolon." Keep it distinct from the possessive semicolon's, which belongs to a single mark and is not a plural at all.
semicolons is a form of semicolon
semicolon, noun: The punctuation mark ;, used to separate independent clauses or to divide items in a list that already contains commas. Full entry
- Spelling
- semicolon → semicolons: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with semicolons, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.