Definition

1. Noun:

   • A punctuation mark (-): The hyphen is a short dash used to join words or parts of words together. It is shorter than both the en dash (–) and the em dash (—).
   • A mark for word division: The hyphen is used to indicate where a word has been split between two lines of text.

2. Verb:

   • To connect with a hyphen: The action of joining words or word parts using a hyphen.
   • To divide with a hyphen: The action of splitting a word at the end of a line using a hyphen.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The word "mother-in-law" contains two hyphens.
  • When the word "understanding" didn't fit, she put a hyphen after "under-" and continued with "standing" on the next line.

• Verb:

  • You should hyphen the compound adjective "well-known" in that sentence.
  • The editor asked me to hyphen the name "Smith-Jones" correctly.

Advanced Usage

• Hyphen in compound modifiers: Used before a noun to clarify the relationship between words.
  • It was a last-minute decision. (The decision was made at the last minute.)
• Suspended hyphen: Used in a series of hyphenated compounds that share a common base word.
  • We need both short- and long-term solutions.
• Hyphen with prefixes: Often used with certain prefixes like "ex-", "self-", or "all-".
  • The ex-president gave a speech.
  • She has great self-confidence.

Variants and Related Words

• Hyphenate (verb): Another, more common, verb form meaning to connect or divide with a hyphen.
  • Remember to hyphenate your compound adjectives.
• Hyphenation (noun): The process or result of using hyphens.
  • The hyphenation in this document is inconsistent.
• Hyphenated (adjective): Describing a word or phrase that contains a hyphen.
  • "African-American" is a hyphenated term.

Synonyms

• Dash (noun): A broader category of punctuation marks that includes the hyphen, though they have different uses.
• Minus sign (noun): The symbol (-) used in mathematics, which is visually identical but functionally different.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(Note: "Hyphen" is not commonly used to form phrasal verbs. The related verb "hyphenate" is used instead.) - Hyphenate together: To join words with a hyphen. - These two concepts are often hyphenated together in academic writing.

Related Idioms

(Note: There are no common idioms that use the word "hyphen" itself. Idioms may use hyphenated compound words.) - To be hyphenated: An informal way to describe someone with a dual cultural or national identity, often reflected in a hyphenated term. - As an Irish-American, he sometimes feels hyphenated.

Noun

1. a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text

Verb

1. divide or connect with a hyphen
   • hyphenate these words and names