The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Imagine a voice-dictation AI that knows when to automatically insert semicolons; be still my writerly heart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 24, 2026
Unlike periods and commas, em dashes aren’t integral to sentence structure; they’re a considered choice that can, but by no means have to, take the place of commas, parentheses and semicolons.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2025
Throughout, Murray employs linguistic choices to distinguish the perspectives, most notably in Imelda’s section, where Murray eschews punctuation: no periods, no commas, no dashes, no semicolons — only the occasional question mark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
In my review of the film, I wrote: “Civil wars over semicolons and heated debate over the word ‘looms’ would not, on the face of it, seem like the stuff of a gripping big-screen movie.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
If you listened closely it was possible to hear the dashes and commas in his speech, even the colons and semicolons.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
