Indentation

//ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of indenting or state of being indented. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the act of cutting into an edge with toothlike notches or angular incisions wordnet
  3. 3
    A notch or recess, in the margin or border of anything. countable, uncountable

    "the indentations of a leaf"

  4. 4
    the space left between the margin and the start of an indented line wordnet
  5. 5
    A recess or sharp depression in any surface. countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    the formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion wordnet
  2. 7
    The act of beginning a line or series of lines at a little distance within the flush line of the column or page, as in the common way of beginning the first line of a paragraph. countable, uncountable

    "The resulting document does not contain the indentation and line breaks found in the original document."

  3. 8
    a concave cut into a surface or edge (as in a coastline) wordnet
  4. 9
    A measure of the distance from the flush line. countable, uncountable

    "an indentation of one em"

  5. 10
    A division unit of a piece of law distinguished by its indentation or by a dash. countable, uncountable

    "The explanatory report acknowledges that the result of the rule under the second indentation can appear arbitrary."

Synonyms

All synonyms
indentalveolationalveolusblazebossbump

Example

More examples

"Her butt left an indentation in the couch."

Etymology

From indent + -ation.

Related phrases

hanging indentationflush line

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.