strikethrough

Strikethrough is a typographic effect in which a horizontal line passes through the center of text. It is used to indicate that content is no longer valid, has been edited, or is otherwise negated, while often remaining legible. In proofreading and editing, a strikethrough marks deletions without removing the text, though in many contexts it means the text is removed or superseded.

In typography and publishing, strikethroughs appear as a line through characters; in digital typography, it is frequently implemented with a line-through decoration or with semantic elements in markup.

In HTML, you can use the <s> element to represent text that is no longer accurate or relevant, and the <del> element to represent text that has been removed, optionally with a datetime attribute. The <ins> element denotes inserted content. For purely presentational styling, CSS text-decoration: line-through can be applied to any element, but this does not convey meaning.

In Markdown and many lightweight markups, strikethrough is commonly expressed by wrapping text in double tildes: ~~text~~. GitHub Flavored Markdown uses that convention. In LaTeX, the ulem package provides \sout{text} to strike through, with \normalem to preserve emphasis behavior.

Accessibility considerations: screen readers may announce struck-through content differently depending on the markup; prefer semantic elements to convey the intended change rather than relying on styling alone.

History and usage: Strikethrough originated in proofreading to mark deletions; today it appears in collaborative editing, UI design, and social platforms to signal edits or disclaimers.