hyphenated

American  

[hahy-fuh-ney-tid] / ˈhaɪ fəˌneɪ tɪd /

adjective

Informal.

1. of, relating to, or designating a person, group, or organization of mixed origin or identity.

   an Irish-American club and other hyphenated organizations.

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hyphenated British  

/ ˈhaɪfəˌneɪtɪd /

adjective

1. containing or linked with a hyphen

2. having a nationality denoted by a hyphenated word, as in American-Irish

3. denoting something, such as a professional career, that consists of two elements, as in singer-songwriter

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Other Word Forms

• unhyphenated
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of hyphenated

First recorded in 1890–95; hyphenate + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Such hyphenated Americans, he said, felt a “degree of accepted and reasonable pride,” and had succeeded in connecting “their heritage to their mother country” and also to “where they are now” in America.

From Salon • Aug. 17, 2024

The cards had room for only a limited number of characters, and could not accommodate hyphenated or multi-word surnames like Bald Eagle Bear, so hundreds of names got scrambled.

From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2023

Some of the droves who looked up “gaslighting” this year might have wanted to know, simply, if it’s one or two words, or whether it’s hyphenated.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 27, 2022

According to her, the woman portrayed as a trickster "sums up our modern fragmented, hyphenated identities and multiple consciousnesses".

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2022

With a hyphenated surname, she would no longer fit into the window of a business envelope.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri