em dash

American

noun

Printing.

a dash one em long.

em dash British

noun

printing a dash (—) one em long

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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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 I, a professional writer, love—love—love—an em dash.

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

It’s not as though the em dash is the first punctuation mark to get lost in intergenerational translation.

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

Transcriber's notes: TN-1 Spaced em dash is found in the original.

From Out Around Rigel by Wilson, Robert H.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023