How to Strikethrough Text in Markdown

Strikethrough renders as a <del> element, which carries the semantic meaning of deleted or superseded content. That makes it ideal for showing edits transparently (~~$50~~ $35), marking completed items in informal lists, or correcting earlier statements without hiding the original. Screen readers can announce <del> content as deleted, so the meaning survives beyond the visual style.

Because strikethrough is a GFM extension rather than core CommonMark, support varies in older or stricter renderers. Static site generators using plain CommonMark (without the GFM extension) will render ~~text~~ literally, tildes and all. If your output shows the tildes, the fix is usually enabling the GFM or "strikethrough" extension in your parser configuration rather than changing your syntax.

A few quirks worth knowing: single tildes (~text~) work on some platforms — GitHub renders single-tilde strikethrough in comments — but double tildes are the only portable form. The tildes follow the same spacing rules as bold and italic: no spaces directly inside the markers. And strikethrough nests cleanly with other emphasis, so ~~**bold and struck**~~ renders both styles together.

Do not confuse strikethrough with task lists. If your goal is a checklist where items get visually completed, use - [x] task list syntax instead — GitHub and Obsidian render checked items with a checkbox, and some themes add strikethrough automatically. Reserve manual ~~strikethrough~~ for prose corrections and price-style edits.