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
“I was reading the Bible the other day, and there were em dashes in the book of James, and I was like, hmm, is this AI-generated?,”
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
But the point is, em dashes are beloved by professionals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
I told him about pas sickness and how my boys was growin up fine with ther good littel ma bringin em up alone.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
It’s true: They don’t make ’em like they used to.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
“I call ’em our hot girl walks,” Nill said, pushing Lana and Steve in their stroller around the Silver Lake Reservoir.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Parton told Soboroff she was singing about “All of ‘em.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
“And I want ’em this year, but I want ’em with two modifications.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Do what you must, then. But keep an eye on those children, Miss Lumley. And if anything goes amiss, remember...you can always bring ’em to the vet.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
It left Bell as the most experienced of a pace group that includes Issy Wong and Lauren Filer, plus all-rounders Danielle Gibson, Em Arlott and Freya Kemp.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
Clipse and John Legend performed “The Birds Don’t Sing,” from the rap duo’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” which is up for album of the year at Sunday’s Grammys ceremony.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 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
“And it must be hard to talk about such a high-profile relationship. Right? We’re listening, Em, but you have to give us something.”
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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
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 debt is much less volatile than EM equities with similar returns over time,” she says.
From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 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 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
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
In the future, more and more of them may em- ulate the experiments of Tanzania and Kenya.
From Time Magazine Archive
The forms en- and em- are of French origin.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
"Well, then, that's my age." said the maltster, em- phatically.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
When circumstance, and one’s own body, seem to conspire against you, one can, as E.M.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 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
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
The beauty of her study is the range of her examples: We’re unlikely to see Charles Darwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Frederick Douglass, Matthew Arnold and E.M.
From New York Times ● Mar. 10, 2023
Amongst the art-treasures of the University of Oxford, Mr. Hepworth Dixon fortunately found a rough sketch of the real house, from which sketch Mr. E.M.
From A Book About Lawyers by John Cordy Jeaffreson
With more experience, the rate could easily hit several thousand ems an hour, no matter the size of the type.
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
For my own part, I hope that the ems come soon.
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 courted pretty Emma Grey, One of earth's living gems— The sweetest Em, he used to say, Among a thousand "ems."
From Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19, 1884. A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside by Various
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