Dictionary

apostrophectomy en · NOUN

Etymology

From apostrophe + -ectomy.

Meanings

1. The removal of incorrect apostrophes, especially those wrongly used to form plurals (greengrocer's apostrophes).
   • Apostrophectomy might not be pleasant but I don't think it's illegal. 2004 June 13, David, “Re: The World Quiz League, it's rolling”, in alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe (Usenet), retrieved 07 Mar 2017, message-ID <4cbe87bc27david@dacha.freeuk.com>:
   • apostrophectomy is a famously painful procedure, and the rate of reinfection is very high. there are also many attested cases where a perfectly functional apostrophe was inappropriately excised. 2000 March 30, Arnold Zwicky, “Re: I'm *famous*”, in soc.motss (Usenet), retrieved 07 Mar 2017, message-ID <8bvtf0$p7d@Turing.Stanford.EDU>:
   • It [Tim Hortons] received an apostrophectomy around the same time to accommodate Quebec language laws and was spun off entirely to shareholders by 2006, remaining registered in corporate haven Delaware. 2009 July 14, Marc Lostracco, “Cruller Intentions”, in Torontoist, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2016:

Forms