Meanings
plural punctures
- The act or an instance of puncturing.
- A hole, cut, or tear created by a sharp object.
There were two small punctures in his arm where the snake's fangs had pierced the skin.
1 more example
The lion may perish by the puncture of an asp.
1752 January 22 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 190. Saturday, January 12. 1752.”, in The Rambler, volume VIII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1752, →OCLC, page 44 - specificallyA hole in a vehicle's tyre, causing the tyre to deflate.
On the way back we got a puncture, and we were stuck at the roadside for three hours until help arrived.
2 more examples
Dieter's car had suffered a puncture on the RN3 road between Paris and Meaux. A bent nail was stuck in the tire.
2001, Ken Follett, Jackdaws, Dutton, →ISBN, page 340A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.
2012 July 15, Richard Williams, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track, Guardian Unlimited
present singular third person punctures · participle present puncturing · participle past punctured · past punctured
- To destroy the vitality or strength of.
The woebegone children have their aspirations slowly snuffed. Grace’s artistic dreams (of animation, of course) are punctured by her isolated existence; Gilbert’s pyrophilia is smothered by religious extremism.
2024 October 23, Jacob Oller, “Clay weepy Memoir Of A Snail crawls through a gauntlet of misery”, in AV Club
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pewǵ-
- Proto-Italic*pungō
- Latinpungō
- Latinpūnctus
- Late Latinpunctūra
- Englishpuncture
Borrowed from Late Latin punctūra.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic ثُقْب
- ثُقْب (ṯuqb)hole, cut or tear
Bulgarian пробив, дупчица
- пробив (probiv)hole, cut or tear
- дупчица (dupčica)hole, cut or tear
- пробождам (proboždam)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- пробивам (probivam)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Catalan perforar
- perforarto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Chinese Mandarin 戳破, 刺孔
- 戳破 (chuōpò)hole, cut or tear
- 刺孔 (cìkǒng)hole, cut or tear
- 刺穿 (cìchuān)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Danish punktere
- punktereto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Dutch puncteren
- puncterento pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Esperanto trui
- truihole, cut or tear
Finnish reikä, rengasrikko
- reikähole, cut or tear
- rengasrikkohole, cut or tear
- puhkaistato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
French piqûre, perforation
- piqûrehole, cut or tear
- perforationhole, cut or tear
- crevaisonhole, cut or tear
- perforerto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
German Einstich, Reifenpanne
- Einstichhole, cut or tear
- Reifenpannehole, cut or tear
- durchstechento pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- punktierento pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Hebrew תקר, נקר
- תקר (teker)hole, cut or tear
- נקר (neker)hole, cut or tear
Hungarian szúrás, lyukasztás
- szúráshole, cut or tear
- lyukasztáshole, cut or tear
- felszúráshole, cut or tear
- lyukhole, cut or tear
- kilyukasztto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- kilyukadto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- felszúrto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Indonesian tusukan
- tusukanhole, cut or tear
Italian puntura
- punturahole, cut or tear
Japanese 刺すこと, パンク
- 刺すこと (sasu koto)hole, cut or tear
- パンク (panku)hole, cut or tear
Latin pūnctūra, pungō
- pūnctūrahole, cut or tear
- pungōto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Māori tioka, tīokaoka
- tiokato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- tīokaokato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- paokato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- pokato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- weroto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- okato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Polish punkcja, dziura
- punkcjaact
- dziurahole, cut or tear
- nakłuciehole, cut or tear
- nakłuwaćto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- nakłućto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Portuguese punctura, perfuração
- puncturahole, cut or tear
- perfuraçãohole, cut or tear
Russian проко́л, прока́лывать
- проко́л (prokól)hole, cut or tear
- прока́лывать (prokályvatʹ)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- проколо́ть (prokolótʹ)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Scottish Gaelic toll
- tollhole, cut or tear
Spanish pinchazo, ponchadura
- pinchazohole, cut or tear
- ponchadurahole, cut or tear
- poncharto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- puncionarto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- punzarto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- pincharto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- puncharto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- horadarto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- horacarto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- compungirto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- espicharto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- puncetearto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- pungirto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Swahili panchari
- pancharihole, cut or tear
Swedish punktera, sticka hål
- punkterahole, cut or tear
- sticka hålhole, cut or tear
- punkterato pierce — see also pierce, perforate
- sticka hål påto pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Tamil குத்து
- குத்து (kuttu)to pierce — see also pierce, perforate
Cite this entry
puncture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puncture
“puncture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puncture. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “puncture,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puncture.
Source: puncture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.