white space

American  

noun

1. the unprinted area of a piece of printing, as of a poster or newspaper page, or of a portion of a piece of printing, as of an advertisement; blank space.

   White space is as effective in a layout as type.

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Etymology

Origin of white space

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white space

“That’s a great example of white space that didn’t really exist for this company,” CEO Nicholas Fink said during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026

"They didn't represent who I was going to school with, it was a very white space."

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026

But the bigger concern is that Walmart today isn’t operating in a white space as Amazon did many years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well,” Doyle said, adding that in “Flesh,” “Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025

Each abbreviation is surrounded by many inches of white space.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker