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:
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
But he said he’ll replace em dashes with two smaller dashes, hoping they’ll look more handmade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Marcy eliminates em dashes and sometimes swaps in sentences of his own, even though he knows he tends toward the run-on variety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The turnover ➡️ The easy deuce for Khamenia @DukeMBB makes em pay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
After kisses, em braces, and exclamations about how much we had grown, Father took my brothers and me for a walk.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
“I noticed some of the things they’d been doing on stage and after thinking about it for a couple days I decided to cut ‘em loose,” Crockett wrote on social media at the time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
“We told ‘em the vibe just wasn’t right for an all-ages audience, and we paid ‘em in full.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
With the boll weevil finishing off King Cotton, paper producers’ “plant ’em thick, cut ’em quick” approach spread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
“I don’t think any of ‘em are trying hard enough,” she said.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
“Did you bring the rafts? Are you ready to play? Get ’em ready and get ’em in so we can play, Ida B,” said the brook, ignoring my question.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Spinner Linsey Smith, all-rounder Em Arlott and batter Paige Scholfield were among the other players to attract fees of more than £100,000.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 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
"Everything on telly was BBC," she said, adding that she grew up watching the sitcom Some Mothers Do Ave Em and Doctor Who, which ignited a love of science fiction.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
Much like “Let God Sort Em Out,” the Clipse’s performance further solidified why they’ve been in the game for more than 20 years and why they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
“And for the last time,” Em said, “you are not going to get suspended!”
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
“We have done a quick review of the 10 largest fundamental EM peers. We can say we have more than 20 stocks in our portfolio that are not in our peer universe,” Cho said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
EM economies are taking the brunt of the whiplash.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
Under the rule of the High Priests of Amen many changes were introduced into the contents of the papyri, and the arrangement cf the texts and vignettes of the PER-T EM HRU was altered.
From The Book of the Dead by Sir E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis) Budge
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
In the future, more and more of them may em- ulate the experiments of Tanzania and Kenya.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
The forms en- and em- are of French origin.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
Enmesh, en-mesh′, Emmesh, em-, Immesh, im-, v.t. to catch in a mesh or net, to entangle.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Arthur is in part a crafty composite of the writer E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025
She also starred with Olivier and Harry Hamlin in Cross’ adaptation of the Greek epic “Clash of the Titans” and a slew of film comedies before landing in the 1985 Merchant Ivory production of E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024
Happy endings in queer cinema can be credited to "Maurice," the 1987 romance drama based on E.M.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2023
The film, an adaptation of the novel by E.M.
From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
Pixii, who invented the split tube commutator for converting the alternating current so produced into a continuous current in the external circuit, was followed by J. Saxton, E.M.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various
That is blindingly fast when the usual working pace was 700 to 1,000 ems an hour.
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
He was over eighty years old and managed to set about 1,000 ems.
From Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in St. Paul by Frank Moore
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