Hyphen

/ˈhaɪ.fən/ · noun

Meaning

The symbol "‐", typically used to join two or more words to form a compound term, or to indicate that a word has been split at the end of a line..

Definitions by Sense

1. The symbol "‐", typically used to join two or more words to form a compound term, or to indicate that a word has been split at the end of a line.
2. (figuratively) Something which links two things of greater significance than itself.
3. Someone who belongs to a marginalized subgroup, and can therefore described by a hyphenated term, such as "German-American", "female-academic", etc.
4. (transitive, dated) To separate or punctuate with a hyphen; to hyphenate.
5. Used to emphasize the coordinating function usually indicated by the punctuation "-".

Example Sentences

As the proud owner of my very own hyphen in a lovingly crafted surname, I have an especial soft spot for this most confusing of punctuation marks.

Cunliffe and Karunanayake (2013) developed Fine's notion to introduce potential hyphen spaces that are deeply implicated and reciprocally influential in relationships between researchers and the researched.

Tab has been kept on quite a number of members who rapturously applauded when that part of the message in which the hyphens were attacked was read by the President.

Sign language interpreters fascinate me because their cultural space, "working the hyphens" as Michelle Fine (1994) would call it, and performing in the kind of hybrid third space that Homi Bhabha (1994) has written about resonates often with my own "hard-of-hearing" doubly hyphenated existence in both deaf and hearing worlds.

A leading Republican paper also had, on the eve of the convention, focused attention on this issue by remarking that Hughes was “designated by the Hyphens as their agent to punish Mr. Wilson for his partial refusal to comply with Potsdam orders.

You are sitting at the wrong table, if I may be so bold, among the misguided who believe in the mass murder of mentalities, otherwise known as the liberal arts hyphen vocational training hyphen education.

Ax was now a Hollywood hyphenated man. An actor hyphen director hyphen writer.

He described himself as a poet-composer and actually said the word hyphen when he did so: "I'm a poet hyphen composer.

Synonyms for hyphen

Antonyms for hyphen

Related Words

Word Forms

• hyphens
• hyphening
• hyphened

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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