apostrophize

To apostrophize can mean two related things, and context tells you which one is intended. In writing and editing, it can simply mean to add an apostrophe (or apostrophes) to a word—often to form a contraction or a possessive. A teacher might warn, "Don't apostrophize plurals," meaning don't write apple's when you mean apples.

In literature, apostrophize has a more dramatic sense: you address someone or something that can't answer—an absent person, an abstract idea, or even an object—as if it were listening. Think of a poet shouting, "Oh, cruel Fate!" Fate isn't listening, but the direct address adds emotion and emphasis.

To apostrophize most commonly means to insert apostrophes in writing—for example, to form contractions like don't or possessives like the dog's leash. Editors also use the verb when talking about incorrect apostrophes: "The sign apostrophizes every plural," meaning it wrongly adds apostrophes (as in Sale on tomato's!).

The word can also refer to a figure of speech called apostrophe: addressing an absent person or something non-human (like fate, death, nature, or an inanimate object) as if it were present and capable of understanding. It's a literary device often used in poetry and rhetoric to create emotional impact, add emphasis, or reveal character.

The Greek root apostrophē suggests a "turning away"—because in the rhetorical sense, you turn away from your immediate audience to address something else entirely. A poet might write, "O Liberty! You are my guiding star," treating liberty as a living being. It's also used for dramatic effect—imagine someone shouting, "Oh, city of dreams!" while gazing at the skyline.

In everyday speech you might hear this rhetorical apostrophizing in a heated moment—someone scolding a broken computer, "Why won't you start?"—but it's usually used knowingly for theatrical flair.