---
title: "no-em-dash-overuse"
description: "Flags excessive em dashes"
sidebar:
  label: "no-em-dash-overuse"
  badge: "Hard"
search:
  tags: [rule, statistical, detection]
---

| Property | Value |
| -------- | ----- |
| Kind | Hard rule |
| Engine | `density` |
| Tier | `statistical` |
| Severity | `warning` |
| Intent | `detection` |
| Scope | `text` |

## Why

Use this signal as a prompt to revise rhythm and density, not as a hard prohibition.

## Examples

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Column>
    **Flagged**

    The court—wisely—paused.
  </Column>
  <Column>
    **Better**

    The court wisely paused.
  </Column>
</Columns>

## Turning it off

```sh
lawlint --disable no-em-dash-overuse draft.md
```

Or durably, in `.lawlint/config.json` — see [Configuration](/docs/reference/configuration).