em
noun
the letter M, m.
em
1 American
[em]
/ ɛm /
noun
-
ems
plural
-
the letter M, m.
-
Also called mut, mutton. Printing.
-
the square of any size of type used as the unit of measurement for matter printed in that type size.
-
(originally) the portion of a line of type occupied by the letter M in type of the same size.
-
adjective
'em
2
American
[uhm]
/ əm /
pronoun
Informal.
Em
3
American
Symbol, Physical Chemistry.
EM
4
American
abbreviation
-
electronic mail.
-
electron microscope; electron microscopy.
-
end matched.
-
Engineer of Mines.
-
enlisted man; enlisted men.
em-
5
American
em-
6
American
E.M.
7
American
abbreviation
-
Earl Marshal.
-
Engineer of Mines.
em
1
British
/ ɛm /
noun
-
Also called: mutton, mut. the square of a body of any size of type, used as a unit of measurement
-
Also called: pica em, pica. a unit of measurement used in printing, equal to one sixth of an inch
'em
2
British
/ əm /
pronoun
em-
3
British
prefix
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of em1
First recorded in 1860–65
Origin of 'em2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English hem, Old English heom, dative and accusative plural of he 1
Vocabulary lists containing em
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Silas Malafaia, who has millions of followers on social media, leads the Assembleia de Deus Vitória em Cristo headquartered in the lower middle-class neighbourhood of Penha in Rio de Janeiro.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
That makes sense; em dashes are easy to spot, and I’ve consciously used them less as the internet has flooded with them.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
The turnover ➡️ The easy deuce for Khamenia @DukeMBB makes em pay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
In my writing, ChatGPT tells me I use 11 em dashes every 1,000 words.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
She twenty-three or so, same as Miss Leefolt and the rest of em.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
We gotta get all of ’em out of here!”
From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2026
“Guys are going up there just trying to have good at-bats. Sometimes, you get ‘em.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
“We’re just going to keep ‘em all and see what happens,” Hortiz said, noting Branson Taylor will return from the injured reserve at some point too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Parton told Soboroff she was singing about “All of ‘em.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
“Let ’em have it, Mrs. Kluck,” I mutter.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
"Proud of her for owning up to it and for wanting to do better," agreed Em.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
England internationals Em Arlott, Amy Jones, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn and Linsey Smith are among the women's players to enter the draft at the £50,000 reserve price.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
L.A. beans though, either Counter Culture or Go Get Em Tiger would be my beans of choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Clipse, the duo of Pusha T and his brother Malice, reunited to release “Let God Sort Em Out,” their first album in more than 15 years, and nabbed five nominations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Tab texted Bridge that night: Tab: Em is definitely in.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
“Neither bonds nor EM equities are a diversifier from the dominant ‘AI Revolution’ theme,” Emanuel said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
The almost parabolic moves in parts of EM equities have been driven by earnings, as strong demand has collided with shortages and supply has struggled to catch up, he said in an interview.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
Despite the sharp rally in EM stocks over the past year and a half, valuations have actually come down, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
India is “arguably one of the most compelling” non-AI emerging market plays, says Kunal Desai, a portfolio manager and EM specialist at GIB Asset Management.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
The line NC is called the sine of the angle of incidence NDC, and EM the sine of the angle of refraction MDE.
From Wireless Transmission of Photographs Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged 1919 by Marcus J. Martin
Font Bureau even did some customization for us—they provided us with wider em- and en-dashes for our home page headline font, for example, since our headlines are full of em-dashes.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2013
Dr. Allen Sinclair Will, 65, founder & director of Rutgers' Department of Journalism, onetime city editor of the Baltimore Sun; of cerebral em- bolism complicated by pneumonia; in Manhattan.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the future, more and more of them may em- ulate the experiments of Tanzania and Kenya.
From Time Magazine Archive
The forms en- and em- are of French origin.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
Most of his children were from home; some seeking em- ployment; some were already settled in homes of their own.
From Our nig, or, sketches from the life of a free black, in a two-story white house, North Showing that slavery's shadows fall even there by Harriet E. Wilson
Arthur is in part a crafty composite of the writer E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025
When circumstance, and one’s own body, seem to conspire against you, one can, as E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
Soucy focuses on the highs of Merchant and Ivory’s films, which began in the 1960s with films like “The Householder” and “Shakespeare-Wallah,” and developed over the next two decades before their 1985 adaptation of E.M.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024
Postwar Suffolk was something of a rural retreat for London writers and artists, and Mr. Blythe soon found himself in the orbit of luminaries like the novelists E.M.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2023
In favourable cases, we may have an E.M. variation as high as ·1 volt.
From Response in the Living and Non-Living by Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose
With more experience, the rate could easily hit several thousand ems an hour, no matter the size of the type.
From Economist ● Mar. 30, 2018
Newsham said prompt treatment by fire and ems personnel at the scene helped to improve the boy’s prospects.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 10, 2017
Mr. Hanson believes that fewer than 1,500 highly productive individuals with specific skill sets will be necessary to create all the ems we need.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2016
Hanson doesn’t think that ems must necessarily live unhappy lives.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 9, 2016
Monotype Keyboard The Lanston Monotype is a type-casting machine which produces separate types set in lines of any length, up to sixty ems pica, spaced and justified.
From Type Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #1 by A. A. Stewart
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
