punctual

Adjective
US[puhngk-choo-uhl]/ˈpʌŋktʃuəl/3 syllables
Synonyms: on time

Open English WordNet

Adjective (1)

  1. acting or arriving or performed exactly at the time appointed“she expected guests to be punctual at meals”“he is not a particularly punctual person”“punctual payment”“she is always on time for class”Synonyms: on timeSimilar timely, prompt
Word of the day · Oct 2About this word
platitudenoun

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Punc′tu·al adjective

Origin: F. ponctuel (cf. Sp. puntual, It. puntuale), from L. punctum point. See Point.

1. Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended. rare “This punctual spot.” John Milton

The theory of the punctual existence of the soul.— Charles Porterfield Krauth

2. Observant of nice points; punctilious; precise.

Punctual to tediousness in all that he relates.— Bp. Gilbert Burnet
So much on punctual niceties they stand.— Christopher Pitt

3. Appearing or done at, or adhering exactly to, a regular or an appointed time; precise; prompt; as, a punctual man; a punctual payment. “The race of the undeviating and punctual sun.” William Cowper

These sharp strokes [of a pendulum], with their inexorably steady intersections, so agree with our successive thoughts that they seem like the punctual stops counting off our very souls into the past.— James Martineau

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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