em dash
Americannoun
noun
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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.
Because more than any other punctuation mark, the em dash is deeply human.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025
Along with the now-infamous em dash, many are renouncing words for which ChatGPT is known to have a mysterious penchant, such as delve, nestled, boast, and meticulous.
From Slate • Aug. 20, 2025
The fact that no one has stepped forward with a firsthand account of false accusation is immaterial because the em dash drama plays on existing anxieties.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2025
She also mentioned a more urgent priority, that her “birthdate be followed in the biographical index by an em dash, and then a blank space.”
From Seattle Times • Oct. 25, 2022
Use an em dash after a man's name when placed at the beginning in reports of interviews, speeches, dialogues, etc.:
From Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of Newspaper Writing by Hyde, Grant Milnor
Definitions 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.
