A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that's used to join words or parts of words.
It's not interchangeable with other types of dashes.
They are used to link words that function as a single adjective before a noun. They are used with compound numbers, and to avoid confusion or awkward letter combinations. Hyphens are also used with certain prefixes and suffixes and in certain special cases.
The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the former British colonies that later became the United States of America. ... Most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war.
