indentation

American  

[in-den-tey-shuhn] / ˌɪn dɛnˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

• indentations
  plural

1. a cut, notch, or deep recess.

   various bays and indentations.

2. a series of incisions or notches.

   the indentation of a maple leaf.

3. a notching or being notched.

4. indention.

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indentation British  

/ ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. a hollowed, notched, or cut place, as on an edge or on a coastline

2. a series of hollows, notches, or cuts

3. the act of indenting or the condition of being indented

4. Also called: indention.   indent.  the leaving of space or the amount of space left between a margin and the start of an indented line

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indentation Cultural  

1. A space left between the left-hand margin of a line of type or handwriting and the beginning of a sentence or quotation. The beginning of a paragraph is usually indented.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• indentations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of indentation

First recorded in 1715–25; indent ¹ + -ation

Explanation

An indentation is a notch, cut, or dent in something. If you take a hammer to a piece of metal, you will make a series of indentations. The dent in indentation shares a root with your dentist, and an indentation is basically like a tooth mark. Except some "teeth" are larger than others — a meteorite leaves a huge indentation in the ground, just as a sharp pencil could make a tiny indentation in your finger. You can talk about conceptual indentation, too. Loving the novel Anna Karenina might make an indentation in your general aversion to reading. It’s that’s good.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

indentation indentations

Samsung worked to make this indentation less visible when the screen is completely flat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

The researchers then tested the jaws using several indentation depths.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026

Rachel, who does not want the BBC to use her surname, said an indentation in her abdomen had been picked up during a regular colonoscopy for another condition.

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026

For air-fried burgers, flatten your patties as much as possible and press an indentation in the center to prevent them from puffing up.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2025

That is, there is no item in an outline, no branch of a tree, no unit of discourse that consistently corresponds to a block of text delimited by a blank line or an indentation.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Their leafy indentations can trap the microscopic parasites, and make them harder to wash.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

He mostly cut freehand, sometimes using indentations he made with his fingernails as outlines, then dyed his creations with green, pink, red and yellow pigments.

From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2024

Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, coaxed out of the can with its ringed indentations intact.

From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2023

There are diagrams, deep indentations, copious line breaks, white space and emphatic ALL CAPS.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2023

Then he started pointing around the graveyard to other body-sized indentations in the dirt.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot