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

“Busywork sounds low-value, but white space sounds creative and it sounds strategic,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

“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

She stared at her notes for a few moments, brought the pen to the board, made a mark, then got flustered and made some notations in the white space beyond the graph, and tried again.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely