hyphenation

American  

[hahy-fuhn-ay-shuhn] / ˌhaɪ fənˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act, process, or result of joining words with a hyphen.

2. the act of identifying a person or thing as a hybrid by means of an expression or name that contains a hyphen.

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Explanation

Hyphenation is what you do when you use a dash-like punctuation mark to join two words into one or separate the syllables of a word. See the word dash-like in that previous sentence? It's formed using hyphenation. The process of using a hyphen, that short dash in compound words like dog-friendly, fast-acting, and well-known, is what hyphenation is all about. We also use hyphenation when we're writing and need to split a long word between lines, breaking it in half and adding a hyphen between complete syllables. The Greek root is hyphen, "mark joining two syllables or words."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hyphenation

The Center for American Progress found that over 69 million female citizens over 15 do not have a birth certificate that matches their legal name because of a name change or hyphenation.

From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2026

But she isn't the sort of person whose career is easily defined, at least without a lot of hyphenation.

From Golf Digest ● Dec. 10, 2018

“This is what we strive for: To be accepted for our talent without categorization, without hyphenation, and until we get there, we do things like this,” said Phillips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2017

But lately I encountered folk music only in hyphenation with some other genre like alternative, rock or country.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2015

Inconsistent hyphenation of word, 'over-blowing' and 'overblowing' both present in original text.

From Hertzian Wave Wireless Telegraphy by Fleming, John Ambrose