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hyphenate

verb, noun — 4 senses

hyphenate

verb

US, UK /ˈhaɪf(ə)ˌneɪt/

Etymology From hyphen + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

1

to break a word at the end of a line according to the hyphenation rules by adding a hyphen on the end of the line.

2

to join words or syllables with a hyphen.

  • you have to hyphenate his surname as it's double-barrelled
Derived terms
hyphenated, hyphenator, mishyphenate, multihyphenate, multihyphenated, rehyphenate, unhyphenate, unhyphenated

hyphenate

noun

US, UK /ˈhaɪfənət/

Etymology From hyphen + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

1

A person or object with multiple duties, abilities or characteristics, such as "writer-director", "actor-model", or "singer-songwriter".

2

A person whose ethnicity is a multi-word hyphenated term, such as "African-American".

  • We seem to have settled on African-American, and at first glance it certainly does seem logical. […] Not to mention what happens when hyphenates marry other hyphenates and have baby hyphenates.2006, Nick Adams, Making Friends With Black People, page 15:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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