comma

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Music Technical

n. a very small difference in pitch between two musical notes that seem almost the same.

n. a minute difference in pitch resulting from different ways of calculating nearly identical intervals, such as the Pythagorean comma.

“The musician explained how a comma affects the tuning of the piano.”

“In historical temperament studies, the syntonic comma represents the small frequency discrepancy between four perfectly tuned fifths and two octaves plus a major third.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Science Technical

n. a type of butterfly that has a white mark shaped like a comma on its wings.

n. any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Polygonia, characterized by a comma-shaped silver or white mark on the underside of the wings.

“We saw a beautiful comma butterfly resting on a leaf in the garden.”

“The Comma butterfly is easily identified by its ragged wing edges and the distinctive white C-shaped mark on its hindwing underside.”

C2 · Proficiency Formal

v. to put commas into a piece of writing.

v. to insert commas into a text for the purpose of punctuation or delimitation.

“The student had to comma the long paragraph to make it easier to read.”

“The manuscript was heavily commaed by the proofreader to conform to the house style guide.”