Word.ws English Dictionary

m dash

m dash is the alternative form of em dash.

Meaning of em 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

Questions about m dash

What is m dash the alternative form of?
M dash is the alternative form of em dash.

Words near m dash in the dictionary

  1. LαE
  2. LαEs
  3. Lạng Sơn
  4. m
  5. M and M boys
  6. m dash
  7. M roof
  8. M roofs
  9. M way
  10. M ways
  11. M$

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: m dash (page history and authors); em dash (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.

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