Dot vs. Period: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023
A dot is a small round mark used in various contexts, while a period specifically refers to the punctuation mark used to end sentences in English writing.
Key Differences
A dot can refer to any small round mark or spot, used in different contexts like art, mathematics, or digital screens. A period is a specific term in punctuation, used to signify the end of a declarative sentence in English.
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Dec 06, 2023
In writing, a dot can be part of different symbols, such as bullet points or decimal points. A period, however, has a distinct role in grammar, indicating the conclusion of a thought or statement.
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Dec 06, 2023
The word dot is used in broader contexts beyond writing, including digital technology (as in pixels) or in patterns. The period is limited to linguistic use, primarily in written language.
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Dec 06, 2023
In American English, the term 'period' is used for the full stop punctuation mark, while in British English, 'full stop' is more common. 'Dot' remains universally understood in various contexts.
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Dec 06, 2023
Both words have extended meanings; 'dot' can refer to a small amount or detail, and 'period' can also refer to a specific time or era in history.
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Dec 06, 2023
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Comparison Chart
Cultural Variance
Consistent across English dialects
Called 'full stop' in British English
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Dec 06, 2023
Extended Meanings
Can mean a small amount or detail
Also refers to a time or era
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Dec 06, 2023
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Dot and Period Definitions
Period
Historical Era
The Victorian period was known for its distinct culture.
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Period
An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon
A period of economic prosperity.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
An interval of time characterized by the prevalence of a specified culture, ideology, or technology
Artifacts of the pre-Columbian period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
An interval regarded as a distinct evolutionary or developmental phase
Picasso's early career is divided into his blue period and rose period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(Geology) A unit of time, longer than an epoch and shorter than an era.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
The basic unit of composition for an image produced by a device that prints text or graphics on paper
A resolution of 900 dots per inch.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
In Morse and similar codes, the short sound or signal used in combination with the dash and silent intervals to represent letters, numbers, or punctuation.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Physics & Astronomy The time interval between two successive occurrences of a recurrent event or phases of an event; a cycle
The period of a satellite's orbit.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A point or portion of time at which something is ended; a completion or conclusion.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A punctuation mark ( . ) indicating a full stop, placed at the end of declarative sentences and other statements thought to be complete, and after many abbreviations.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(Music) A mark after a note indicating an increase in time value by half.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(Computers) A period, as used as in URLs and email addresses, to separate strings of words, as in www.hmhco.com.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A metrical unit of quantitative verse consisting of two or more cola.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(Music) A group of two or more phrases within a composition, often made up of 8 or 16 measures and terminating with a cadence.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
To cover with or as if with dots
"Campfires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night" (Stephen Crane).
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The least interval in the range of the independent variable of a periodic function of a real variable in which all possible values of the dependent variable are assumed.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The number of digits that repeat in a repeating decimal. For example, 1/7 = 0.142857142857 ... has a six-digit period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(grammar) A punctuation mark used to indicate the end of a sentence or an abbreviated part of a word; a full stop; a period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(Chemistry) A sequence of elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number and forming one of the horizontal rows in the periodic table.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
A point used as a diacritical mark above or below various letters of the Latin script, as in Ȧ, Ạ, Ḅ, Ḃ, Ċ.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Of, belonging to, or representing a certain historical age or time
A period piece.
Period furniture.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(mathematics) A symbol used for separating the fractional part of a decimal number from the whole part, for indicating multiplication or a scalar product, or for various other purposes.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Used to emphasize finality, as when expressing a decision or an opinion
You're not going to the movies tonight, period!.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A length of time.
There was a period of confusion following the announcement.
You'll be on probation for a six-month period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A period of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era.
Food rationing continued in the post-war period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
Anything small and like a speck comparatively; a small portion or specimen.
A dot of a child
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur, such as the repetition of a wave or the rotation of a planet.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc.
This is one of the last paintings Picasso created during his Blue Period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity.
I have math class in second period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(transitive) To cover with small spots (of some liquid).
His jacket was dotted with splashes of paint.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Each of the intervals, typically three, of which a game is divided.
Gretzky scored in the last minute of the second period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
(transitive) To add a dot (the symbol) or dots to.
Dot your is and cross your ts.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
One or more additional intervals to decide a tied game, an overtime period.
They won in the first overtime period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
To mark or diversify with small detached objects.
To dot a landscape with cottages
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
Dot product of the previous vector and the following vector.
The work is equal to F dot Δx.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(obsolete) A specific moment during a given process; a point, a stage.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
A small point or spot, made with a pen or other pointed instrument; a speck, or small mark.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(geology) A geochronologic unit of millions to tens of millions of years; a subdivision of an era, and subdivided into epochs.
These fossils are from the Jurassic period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
Anything small and like a speck comparatively; a small portion or specimen; as, a dot of a child.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(genetics) A Drosophila gene, the gene product of which is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm.
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
To mark or diversify with small detached objects; as, a landscape dotted with cottages.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
(math) The length of an interval over which a periodic function, periodic sequence or repeating decimal repeats; often the least such length.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Designating anything from a given historical era. en
A period car
A period TV commercial
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Evoking, or appropriate for, a particular historical period, especially through the use of elaborate costumes and scenery.
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Dot
The United States federal department that institutes and coordinates national transportation programs; created in 1966
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
That's final; that's the end of the matter (analogous to a period ending a sentence); end of story.
I know you don't want to go to the dentist, but your teeth need to be checked, period!
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Oct 19, 2023
Dot
Scatter or intersperse like dots or studs;
Hills constellated with lights
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A portion of time as limited and determined by some recurring phenomenon, as by the completion of a revolution of one of the heavenly bodies; a division of time, as a series of years, months, or days, in which something is completed, and ready to recommence and go on in the same order; as, the period of the sun, or the earth, or a comet.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A stated and recurring interval of time; more generally, an interval of time specified or left indefinite; a certain series of years, months, days, or the like; a time; a cycle; an age; an epoch; as, the period of the Roman republic.
How by art to make plants more lasting than their ordinary period.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
One of the great divisions of geological time; as, the Tertiary period; the Glacial period. See the Chart of Geology.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The termination or completion of a revolution, cycle, series of events, single event, or act; hence, a limit; a bound; an end; a conclusion.
So spake the archangel Michael; then paused,As at the world's great period.
Evils which shall never end till eternity hath a period.
This is the period of my ambition.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A complete sentence, from one full stop to another; esp., a well-proportioned, harmonious sentence.
Periods are beautiful when they are not too long.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The punctuation point [.] that marks the end of a complete sentence, or of an abbreviated word.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
One of several similar sets of figures or terms usually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in circulating decimals.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The time of the exacerbation and remission of a disease, or of the paroxysm and intermission.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
To come to a period; to conclude. [Obs.] "You may period upon this, that," etc.
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
An amount of time;
A time period of 30 years
Hastened the period of time of his recovery
Picasso's blue period
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A stage in the history of a culture having a definable place in space and time;
A novel from the Victorian period
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenon
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations;
In England they call a period a stop
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
A unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed;
Ganoid fishes swarmed during the earlier geological periods
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
The end or completion of something;
Death put a period to his endeavors
A change soon put a period to my tranquility
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Oct 19, 2023
Period
Emphatic Statement End
She said, No more discussion, and added a period.
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Dec 06, 2023
Repeatedly Asked Queries
Is a period used in math?
Rarely, except as a decimal point in American English.
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Dec 06, 2023
What does a period do in a sentence?
It marks the end of a declarative sentence.
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Dec 06, 2023
Can a period have multiple meanings?
Besides punctuation, it refers to time spans or menstrual cycles.
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Dec 06, 2023
What is a 'dot' in clothing patterns?
It's a small, round design element, like in polka dots.
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Dec 06, 2023
Is the period used the same in all English dialects?
No, it's called a 'full stop' in British English.
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Dec 06, 2023
Can a period be used for emphasis?
Yes, especially in emphatic or conclusive statements.
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Dec 06, 2023
Do all languages use periods?
Many do, but not all; some have different sentence-ending marks.
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Dec 06, 2023
Are periods used in informal texting?
Sometimes, though often omitted for brevity.
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Dec 06, 2023
Is it correct to end a question with a period?
No, questions typically end with a question mark.
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Dec 06, 2023
How do you use a dot in a URL?
To separate domain elements, like in "www.example.com."
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Dec 06, 2023
Can dots form larger images?
Yes, especially in pointillism or digital displays.
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Dec 06, 2023
Can a dot represent a small quantity?
Yes, in expressions like "not one dot of truth."
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Dec 06, 2023
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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