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:
“The em dash is now a GPT-ism and is not advisable unless you want people to think your writing is the output of a LLM,” wrote a user named energy123 on Hacker News.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
And he admits it, naturally, with an em dash.
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
“Miss Skeeter say the peace dove be the sign for better times to come. Say folks is wearing em on they clothes out in California.”
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
“And I wouldn’t be surprised to ‘em him back again.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
"I think let 'em play," Trump said in late April.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Roman Abramovich's "hire 'em, fire 'em" strategy inflicted instability on Chelsea, but was also the catalyst for great glory.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 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
“That’s the other reason we keep ’em closed.”
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
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
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
Dr Em May Armstrong, a plant researcher, says the key is finding the balance between resting more and becoming too lethargic.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
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
One of them turned around to shout at Bridge and Em.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
Strong performance in the EM space has increasingly been driven by a handful of stocks trading in Taiwan and South Korea, which play host to some of the world’s most influential AI hardware companies.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
Those who advocate for leniency on EM debt often fall into the trap of permitting caveats and special treatments that ultimately worsen the situation for developing countries.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 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 earnings have been revised “meaningfully” higher, providing a tailwind and a way to diversify exposure to AI beyond the U.S., she said.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026
On coffins of the XIth dynasty and on papyri of the XVIIIth dynasty we find two versions of the PER-T EM HRU, one long and one short.
From The Book of the Dead by Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
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
This prefix thus appears as am-, an-, em-, en-, il-, im-, in-, ir-, as ambush, anoint, embrace, enclose, illude, immure, include, irritate.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
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
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
So begins the airy, delectable Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala adaptation of E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
By elevating universalism alongside diversity — she returns many times to E.M.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2023
Therefore, hoping that you will be patient, and trust to that I speak of, believe me to be, "Always your friend, "E.M.
From The Homesteader A Novel by Micheaux, Oscar
Linotype swifts, as praised in the Linotype Bulletin in 1921, could easily hit sustained rates above 10,000 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
They will be able to share their experiences with other 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
The string measured 23,000 ems, and was the most remarkable feat of composition ever heard of in this section of the country.
From Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in St. Paul by Moore, Frank
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.
