1
: a mark ˜ placed especially over the letter n (as in Spanish señor sir) to denote the sound \nʸ\ or over vowels (as in Portuguese irmã sister) to indicate nasality
2
a
: the mark used to indicate negation in logic and the geometric relation "is similar to" in mathematics
b
: the mark used to indicate an approximate value
Examples of tilde in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Saldaña’s last name is spelled with a tilde over the n, but she was billed without it for most of her career.
—
Kyle Buchanan, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2025
The list of ironists is hard to pin down, but Slate’s Josh Greenman resurrected the upside-down exclamation point (¡), and typographer Choz Cunningham, among others, suggested using a period followed by a tilde to tell readers that a sentence should be read beyond its literal meaning.
—Casey Fedde, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2023
National in Spanish is nacional, which does not use the tilde.
—Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 17 Oct. 2022
Even after correctly matching the United States’ 31 Washington Counties to their correct states, there’s a very good chance that the two sources do not agree on whether Doña Ana County, N.M. really needs that tilde.
—Chris Wilson, Time, 20 Sep. 2019
One general principle is that communication leans toward the efficient, so any extra markings (sarcastic tildes, for instance, or a period where a line break will do) telegraph that there’s more to the message than its literal import.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 26 July 2019
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Kyle Buchanan, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2025
The list of ironists is hard to pin down, but Slate’s Josh Greenman resurrected the upside-down exclamation point (¡), and typographer Choz Cunningham, among others, suggested using a period followed by a tilde to tell readers that a sentence should be read beyond its literal meaning.
—Casey Fedde, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2023
National in Spanish is nacional, which does not use the tilde.
—Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 17 Oct. 2022
Even after correctly matching the United States’ 31 Washington Counties to their correct states, there’s a very good chance that the two sources do not agree on whether Doña Ana County, N.M. really needs that tilde.
—Chris Wilson, Time, 20 Sep. 2019
One general principle is that communication leans toward the efficient, so any extra markings (sarcastic tildes, for instance, or a period where a line break will do) telegraph that there’s more to the message than its literal import.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 26 July 2019
Cite this Entry
“Tilde.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tilde. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tilde
noun
til·de
ˈtil-də 
: a mark ˜ placed especially over the letter n (as in Spanish señor) to indicate a sound that is approximately \ny\
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