exclamation point

American  

noun

• exclamation points
  plural

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.”(!)

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exclamation point Cultural  

1. 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.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• exclamation points
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of exclamation point

First recorded in 1860–65

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

exclamation point

And as the game wore on, the gulf between the two sides became more evident, with England running in three tries in the final minutes to put an exclamation point on their win.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

I asked the guy wearing the exclamation point on his chest whether he thought the protests would have any impact upon Moreno.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

The rally puts an exclamation point on the stock’s turnaround this month, as the narrative around how AI would affect many software stocks seems to have reversed to positive from negative.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

“All that did was put an exclamation point on it,” Brunner said.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

There’s actually an exclamation point, which makes this place seem extra exciting.

From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick

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