indentation

C2+ Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən/ UK /ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a notch or recess, or a blank space at the start of a line of text

Each new paragraph began with a neat indentation.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a notch or recess, or a... notch dent recess depression indent hollow

Opposites

protrusion projection

Word family

Related forms indent indented dent indenture

Etymology

From indent + -ation; indent from Old French endenter ('to notch'), from Medieval Latin indentare, from in- ('in') + Latin dens, dent- ('tooth').

dens Latin *h₃dónts Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Space, Position & Direction Word Formation & Derivatives

# indentation

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən
**IPA (UK):** ˌɪndɛnˈteɪʃən

## Meanings
1. a notch or recess, or a blank space at the start of a line of text

## Examples
- Each new paragraph began with a neat indentation.

## Synonyms
- notch
- dent
- recess
- depression
- indent
- hollow

## Antonyms
- protrusion
- projection

## Related Forms
- indent
- indented
- dent
- indenture

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dens
- Root: *h₃dónts

## Etymology
From indent + -ation; indent from Old French endenter ('to notch'), from Medieval Latin indentare, from in- ('in') + Latin dens, dent- ('tooth').

## AI Etymology
indentation comes from indent + -ation; indent from Old French endenter ('to notch'), from Medieval Latin indentare, from in- ('in') + Latin dens, dent- ('tooth'). Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the noun sense is "a notch or recess, or a blank space at the start of a line of text", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as indent, indented, dent, and indenture. Its semantic neighborhood includes notch, dent, recess, and depression, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin dens and Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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indentation

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