indent

noun

A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.

A stamp; an impression.

A certificate, or intended certificate, issued by the government of the United States at the close of the Revolution, for the principal or interest of the public debt.

A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.

verb

(transitive) To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth

(intransitive) To be cut, notched, or dented.

To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress

(typography) To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or lesser distance from the margin. See indentation, and indention. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "Hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.

(military, India, Singapore, dated elsewhere) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.

(historical) To cut the two halves of a document in duplicate, using a jagged or wavy line so that each party could demonstrate that their copy was part of the original whole.

(intransitive, reflexive, obsolete) To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something); to contract.

(transitive, obsolete) To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.

(obsolete, intransitive) To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.

Roots

dens-dent · Latin · tooth

Synonyms for indent

indentionn indentationn dentn indenturen serratev concavityn

Synonyms & related words for indent

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of indent — including indention, indentation, dent, indenture, serrate, concavity. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to indent

Explore words related to indent — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include crenelate, whitespace, incisure, backspaces, italicization, delimiter, engrail, planish. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for indent

Common synonyms for indent include indention, indentation, dent, indenture, serrate, concavity — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does indent come from?

The word indent breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root -dent, from Latin dens (“tooth”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.