hyphens

Noun

hyphen (plural hyphens)

1. The symbol "‐", typically used to join two or more words to form a compound term, or to indicate that a word has been split at the end of a line.
   • As the proud owner of my very own hyphen in a lovingly crafted surname, I have an especial soft spot for this most confusing of punctuation marks.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 56
2. (figuratively) Something which links two things of greater significance than itself.
   • Cunliffe and Karunanayake (2013) developed Fine's notion to introduce potential hyphen spaces that are deeply implicated and reciprocally influential in relationships between researchers and the researched.2019 June 20, Noof Aldaheri, Gustavo Guzman, and Heather Stewart, “Tales of the Unknown and Entanglement”, in Prof. Anthony Stacey, editor, ECRM 2019 18th European Conference on Research Methods in...
   1. (figuratively) An enclosed walkway or passage that connects two buildings.
      • The hyphens were added, joining the structures into one building, which now measures just over two hundred feet long.1997, Peter Beney, The Majesty of Colonial Williamsburg, page 156
3. Someone who belongs to a marginalized subgroup, and can therefore described by a hyphenated term, such as "German-American", "female-academic", etc.
   • Tab has been kept on quite a number of members who rapturously applauded when that part of the message in which the hyphens were attacked was read by the President.1916, The American Monthly - Volume 3, page 221

See all 6 meanings of hyphen