But, soon after the human had eaten his rations, he plunged into long, silent periods punctuated with twitches and looks over his shoulder through the view bubble.

Thus policy is characterized by long periods of stability, punctuated by large-though less frequent-changes due to large shifts in society or government.

Disgorging information in quarterly chunks, with intervening periods punctuated by legalistic company press releases, is clearly inadequate.

And in a very short time--a period punctuated by a late-night breakfast and a cigar.

Rather, the two churches slid into and out of schism over a period of several centuries, punctuated with temporary reconciliations.

Essential thrombocytosis is sometimes described as a slowly progressive disorder with long asymptomatic periods punctuated by thrombotic or hemorrhagic events.

They then get cheap over a longer period, punctuated by rallies that eventually fade.

In a period punctuated by distracting revelations of company spying, Hewlett-Packard nevertheless sharply increased its revenue and made more profit from the revenue.

New York City passenger ship manifests from 1880 to 1891 indicate a slow trickle of immigration during the period punctuated by a many-fold spike in 1890.

After Njinga's death, a period of tension, punctuated by civil war, broke out.