Word.ws English Dictionary

em dash

em dash noun: the symbol (—) (used to demarcate a parenthetical thought or to indicate a break, or for emphasis); a one-em or long dash.

Noun

em dash (plural em dashes)

  1. The symbol (—) (used to demarcate a parenthetical thought or to indicate a break, or for emphasis); a one-em or long dash.
    • So now, no matter where it’s coming from or why, millions of people recognize the em dash as a sign of zero-effort, low-quality algorithmic slop.2025 December 3, Sam Kriss, “Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025
    Synonyms:
    em rule, m-rule, mutton dash, ChatGPT hyphen

em dash meaning in Tamil, Tagalog and Persian

em dash in Tamil

நீண்ட இணைக் கோடு

em dash in Tagalog

typographical symbol '—'
gatlang em

em dash in Persian

typographical symbol '—'
تمامخط tamâm-xat

Synonyms of em dash

Forms of em dash

pluralem dashes
alternative formemdash
alternative formem-dash
alternative formm dash

Origin of em dash

Named for its width, which is equal to the width of the letter m or M, or approximately twice the width of an en dash.

Questions about em dash

What does em dash mean?
Em dash means the symbol (—) (used to demarcate a parenthetical thought or to indicate a break, or for emphasis); a one-em or long dash.
What is em dash in Tamil?
Em dash in Tamil is நீண்ட இணைக் கோடு. See Em dash meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is em dash?
Em dash is a noun.
What is the plural of em dash?
The plural of em dash is em dashes.

Words near em dash in the dictionary

  1. Elzy
  2. Elzys
  3. Elâzığ
  4. elæon
  5. em
  6. em dash
  7. em dashes
  8. em quad
  9. em quads
  10. em rule
  11. em space

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: em dash (page history and authors); em dash (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-em dash.ogg.

Cite this entry: “em dash.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/em_dash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.