"question mark" meaning in English

See question mark in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑːk/ [UK], /ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑrk/ [US] Audio: en-us-question mark.mp3 [US] Forms: question mark [singular], question marks [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A question mark is the character ? used at the end of a sentence to mean this sentence is waiting for an answer.
    Sense id: simple-question_mark-en-noun-HZrXGdKA
  2. A question mark can also stand for a question or a doubt, something uncertain or unknown.
    Sense id: simple-question_mark-en-noun-a3dFE5kU
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "question mark",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "question marks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "quest‧ion mark",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In English the question mark appears immediately after the last word of the sentence, but in French a space between is needed."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question mark is the character ? used at the end of a sentence to mean this sentence is waiting for an answer."
      ],
      "id": "simple-question_mark-en-noun-HZrXGdKA"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He had no idea what she was thinking; it was one big question mark."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question mark can also stand for a question or a doubt, something uncertain or unknown."
      ],
      "id": "simple-question_mark-en-noun-a3dFE5kU",
      "raw_tags": [
        "metaphorical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑːk/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑrk/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-question mark.mp3",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "question mark"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "question mark",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "question marks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "quest‧ion mark",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In English the question mark appears immediately after the last word of the sentence, but in French a space between is needed."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question mark is the character ? used at the end of a sentence to mean this sentence is waiting for an answer."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He had no idea what she was thinking; it was one big question mark."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A question mark can also stand for a question or a doubt, something uncertain or unknown."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "metaphorical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑːk/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n ˌmɑrk/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-question mark.mp3",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "question mark"
}

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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 2025-02-03 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (05fdf6b and 9dbd323). 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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