Punctuality is the habit of arriving exactly on time. Praised for her punctuality, punctuality is expected, poor punctuality.
It is a formal word and it appears mostly in school reports, job references and railway performance figures — train punctuality is a published statistic in Britain and an object of national grievance. The adjective is punctual, which is used of people rather than things: a punctual colleague, always punctual. Note that punctuality is culturally variable in a way English speakers often forget, and that being on time means different things in different countries.
1nounpunctualityThe habit of arriving or happening at the right time.
“Her punctuality is the first thing anybody mentions.”
synonyms: timeliness
punctuality is a habit of timekeeping.
Latin
pūnctus — point
Medieval Latin
pūnctuālis — relating to a point
English
punctual
English, today
punctuality
From punctual + -ity. punctual Medieval Latin pūnctuālis (“relating to a point”), from Latin pūnctus (“point”) + -ālis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA