punctual Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective 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

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

Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended. R. "This punctual spot." Milton.
The theory of the punctual existence of the soul. Krauth.
Observant of nice points; punctilious; precise.
Punctual to tediousness in all that he relates. Bp. Burnet.

So much on punctual niceties they stand. C. Pitt.
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." 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. J. Martineau.