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:
But the point is, em dashes are beloved by professionals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
Most of all we should use em dashes because they are a declaration of humanity in the face of AI’s onslaught.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
The news drew praise from public figures, including Jennifer Lopez, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Bruno Mars, who wrote on X, “Go get em Bad Bunny!”
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2025
“Some of em last for a long time if we’re lucky, but most of them are fleeting,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
Them prisoners don’t get but one out a ten things sent to em cause the lady guards take it for theyselves.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Pokémon fans have spent the past three decades trying to catch 'em all - and since the beginning this hunt has often taken place outside the home.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
"I think let 'em play," Trump said in late April.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
It almost looks like the NBA upper brass — Adam Silver and his cohorts/consultants — have directly or indirectly “suggested” that referees simply “let ‘em play.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026
In “Pinball Wizard,” the Who’s Roger Daltrey sings: “Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve played the silver ball / From Soho down to Brighton, I must’ve played ’em all.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
But wheneverI tried to tell Jeb he was lucky, he’d say, “Take as many of ’em as you want.”
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
The experimental-video director with the white faux hawk I met at Go Get Em Tiger in East Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
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
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
Em lifted her head and rolled her eyes.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
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
In pre-market trading Thursday TSMC’s U.S.-listed depositary receipts were 1.87% higher at $440 and the EM ETF was indicating a gain of 2.52% at 70.29.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
EM economies are taking the brunt of the whiplash.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
“Ultimately, we think the long-term outlook for gold will depend on the level of reserves EM central banks end up with, and the share of gold they target,” he said in written commentary.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 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 Martin, Marcus J.
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
When circumstance, and one’s own body, seem to conspire against you, one can, as E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
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
So begins the airy, delectable Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala adaptation of E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
In order to study these effects we must use, in practice, a highly sensitive galvanometer as the recorder of E.M. variations.
From Response in the Living and Non-Living by Bose, Jagadis Chandra, Sir
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
That is if any of us are lucky or unlucky enough to become ems.
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
I think she's going to be good for 8,000 ems an hour in the hands of a good ordinary man after a solid year's practice.
From Mark Twain's Letters — Volume 4 (1886-1900) by Paine, Albert Bigelow
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.
