inverted comma

American  

noun

British.

1. quotation mark.

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inverted comma British  

noun

1. another term for quotation mark

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Etymology

Origin of inverted comma

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

An authorling will deliberately inoculate his copy with the inverted comma bacillus, till the page swims unsteadily, counting the fever a glow of pure literary healthiness.

From Certain Personal Matters by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

Quotations from the Old Testament are marked with a kind of inverted comma.

From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. I. by Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose

An inverted comma placed over a letter denotes that the sound of our h precedes that letter.

From New Word-Analysis Or, School Etymology of English Derivative Words by Swinton, William