"Oxford comma" meaning in English

See Oxford comma in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-us-Oxford comma.oga Forms: Oxford commas [plural]
Etymology: From Oxford University Press, where such use is the house style. Head templates: {{en-noun}} Oxford comma (plural Oxford commas)
  1. (typography) The serial comma. Categories (topical): Punctuation marks, Typography Synonyms: serial comma (english: UK & US), Harvard comma [US]
    Sense id: en-Oxford_comma-en-noun-eFDsojTQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Topics: media, publishing, typography

Inflected forms

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  "etymology_text": "From Oxford University Press, where such use is the house style.",
  "forms": [
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        {
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          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Punctuation marks",
          "orig": "en:Punctuation marks",
          "parents": [
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            "Symbols",
            "Orthography",
            "Writing",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Human",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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            "Society",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002 [1978], Peter Sutcliffe, “Making the Press what it ought to be”, in The Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, page 114:",
          "text": "It was Collins who invented the ‘Oxford comma’, for which he obtained supported from Herbert Spencer.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, “Oxford Comma”, in Vampire Weekend, performed by Vampire Weekend:",
          "text": "Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? / I've seen those English dramas too; they're cruel / So if there's any other way to spell the word / It's fine with me, with me",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 January 27, Alison Flood, “Philip Pullman calls for boycott of Brexit 50p coin over 'missing' Oxford comma”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "It is a debate that has torn the nation in two, ripped friends and family apart, and entrenched deep and uncrossable lines throughout the land. Should the Royal Mint have used an Oxford comma on its Brexit 50p piece?",
          "type": "quote"
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        "(typography) The serial comma."
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          "word": "Harvard comma"
        }
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      "topics": [
        "media",
        "publishing",
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{
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          "ref": "2002 [1978], Peter Sutcliffe, “Making the Press what it ought to be”, in The Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, page 114:",
          "text": "It was Collins who invented the ‘Oxford comma’, for which he obtained supported from Herbert Spencer.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, “Oxford Comma”, in Vampire Weekend, performed by Vampire Weekend:",
          "text": "Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? / I've seen those English dramas too; they're cruel / So if there's any other way to spell the word / It's fine with me, with me",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 January 27, Alison Flood, “Philip Pullman calls for boycott of Brexit 50p coin over 'missing' Oxford comma”, in The Guardian:",
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          "type": "quote"
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          "word": "serial comma"
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        {
          "tags": [
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          "word": "Harvard comma"
        }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (db0bec0 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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