Definition of "dieresis" []

• Linguistics A mark ( ¨ ) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that they are to be pronounced as separate sounds rather than a diphthong, as in naïve. (noun)
• Linguistics A mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel, such as the final vowel in Brontë, to indicate that the vowel is not silent. (noun)
• Poetry A break or pause in a line of verse that occurs when the end of a word and the end of a metrical foot coincide. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The version for print and Web browsers will contain the dieresis, as always."
• "For the iPad they will make a new version that substitutes hyphens for the dieresis."
• "We personally do not use the dieresis in our own writing, but we respect and will defend the right of the New Yorker or anyone else to do so."