Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word —. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word —, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say — in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word — you have here. The definition of the word — will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of—, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
I have explained it to myself in the most satisfactory way;—but you, Elinor, who love to doubt where you can——It will not satisfy you I know; but you shall not talk me out of my trust in it.
1962, Jack Frohlichstein, Mathematical Fun, Games and Puzzles (in English), Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 9:
Bet anyone he can't correctly name the next highest number to every number which you will give him. […] 43 — he will say 44 87 — he will say 88 123 — he will say 124
1820, Cruikshank, All among the Hottentots capering to shore (painting; in English):
D—n the Devil .. he be going to eat me!!! — Rot me if he ain't as bloody minded as a Manchester butcher! Oh! dear! Oh! dear!! D—n your outlandish jaws!!
(dated,fiction) Used to replace part or all of a person's name, a place name, a date, or so forth.
1748, a Lady, in a Letter to her Friend in the Country, A Free Comment on the Late Mr. W—g—n’s Apology for His Conduct; Which Clears Up the Obscurities of That Celebrated Posthumous Work, and Dissipates the Clouds in Which the Author Has Thought Proper to Envelope His Meaning (in English), London: W. Webb, page 15:
I hope D—ds—y will look to theſe literal Errors, he being the only one of the Trade I can venture to truſt.
^ Joan G. Nagle, Handbook for preparing engineering documents: from concept to completion, 1995, p. 114: We can use the word none or N/D (no data), or insert an em dash; any of these entries show that we haven't simply forgotten to fill the cell. N/A is commonly used for not applicable. It's good practice to footnote N/A or N/D the first time it is used.
(stenoscript) The dash may be written low, along the baseline, or high, at x-height, as convenient for whichever letters it links to. For example, with mo—n for 'more than', the dash is likely to be written at x-height.
(stenoscript) When used as punctuation, an en or em dash is doubled, like a long ⹀, to distinguish it from its phonetic use.
Some EU member states prevent placement of refugees on their territory.
Usage notes
— is not used when the subject is a pronoun; e.g. я ру́сский(ja rússkij, “I am Russian”) or with predicative adjectives.
— — are preferred over ( ) when the supplemental information is necessary to understand author's point and can't be dropped.
A dash or a hyphen is used in Russian apposition when the first word (or first words) is not a form of address (e.g. товарищ(tovarišč)) and the second word is an appellative.