$ package:prelude-compat

Application operator. This operator is redundant, since ordinary application (f x) means the same as (f $ x). However, $ has low, right-associative binding precedence, so it sometimes allows parentheses to be omitted; for example:

f $ g $ h x  =  f (g (h x))

It is also useful in higher-order situations, such as map ($ 0) xs, or zipWith ($) fs xs. Note that ($) is levity-polymorphic in its result type, so that foo $ True where foo :: Bool -> Int# is well-typed

Strict (call-by-value) application operator. It takes a function and an argument, evaluates the argument to weak head normal form (WHNF), then calls the function with that value.