1. a punctuation mark (‘) used to show possession or to indicate missing letters in contractions
Usage: grammar
2. a literary device in which a speaker addresses someone absent, dead, or inanimate as if present and able to respond
Usage: literary; rhetoric

Examples

• Don’t forget the apostrophe in “can’t” and “won’t.”
• The apostrophe in “Sarah’s book” shows that the book belongs to Sarah.
• Many people confuse “its” and “it’s” because of the apostrophe.
• In the poem, the speaker uses apostrophe to address the wind directly.
• “O Death, where is thy sting?” is an example of apostrophe in literature.
• The apostrophe makes “we’re” a contraction of “we are.”
• Students often misplace the apostrophe in plural possessives like “the dogs’ toys.”