exclamation point

noun
1.
the sign (!) used in writing after an exclamation.
2.
this mark sometimes used in writing two or more times in succession to indicate intensity of emotion, loudness, etc.:
Long live the Queen!!
3.
this mark sometimes used without accompanying words in writing direct discourse to indicate a speaker's dumbfounded astonishment:
“His wife just gave birth to quintuplets.”(!)
Also called exclamation mark.
Origin
1860-65
Examples from the web for exclamation mark
  • The exclamation mark is a neat and concise sneer at the legal profession.
  • Outside these narrow limits the exclamation mark must not be used.
  • Additionally, a red exclamation mark will appear next to a noncompliant vaccine on the right side of the screen.
  • Kathy puts the exclamation mark on great customer service.
  • These warnings are designated by an exclamation mark inside an equilateral triangle and text highlighted in bold.
British Dictionary definitions for exclamation mark

exclamation mark

noun
1.
the punctuation mark ! used after exclamations and vehement commands
2.
this mark used for any other purpose, as to draw attention to an obvious mistake, in road warning signs, (in chess commentaries) beside the notation of a move considered a good one, (in mathematics) as a symbol of the factorial function, or (in logic) occurring with an existential quantifier
exclamation mark in Culture

exclamation point definition


A punctuation mark (!) used after an abrupt and emphatic statement or after a command: “‘Help!’ he cried, as his boat floated toward the edge of Niagara Falls.”

exclamation mark in Technology

character
The character "!" with ASCII code 33.
Common names: bang; pling; excl (/eks'kl/); shriek; ITU-T: exclamation mark, exclamation point (US). Rare: factorial; exclam; smash; cuss; boing; yell; wow; hey; wham; eureka; soldier; INTERCAL: spark-spot.
The Commonwealth Hackish, "pling", is common among Acorn Archimedes owners. Bang is more common in the USA.
The occasional CMU usage, "shriek", is also used by APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists.
Exclamation mark is used in C and elsewhere as the logical negation operation (NOT).
(1998-09-17)