indent

Meaning

Noun

1. A cut or notch in the margin of anything, or a recess like a notch.
2. A stamp; an impression.
3. 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.
4. A requisition or order for supplies, sent to the commissariat of an army.

Verb

1. (transitive) To notch; to jag; to cut into points like a row of teeth
2. (intransitive) To be cut, notched, or dented.
3. To dent; to stamp or to press in; to impress
4. (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.
5. (intransitive, obsolete, reflexive) To enter into a binding agreement by means of such documents; to formally commit (to doing something); to contract.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To engage (someone), originally by means of indented contracts.
7. 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.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To crook or turn; to wind in and out; to zigzag.
9. (India, Singapore) To make an order upon; to draw upon, as for military stores.

Synonyms

indenture

dent

indentation

indention

notch

nick

flute

🪈

humiliate

order

depress

groove

hollow

join

attach

jag

recess

chase

cleave

clasp

blank

chip

fillister

insert

fasten

fix

fixate

flexuose

bend

frame

frame up

band

edge in

dint

catch

hang on

brooch

belay

gutter

cut

hitch

grave

🪦

gouge

curve

bracket

goffer

infix

gauffer

intromit

curl

furrow

Translations

inspringen

einrücken

rientrare

dentellare

frastagliare

intaccare

dentellatura

tacca

denteler

capoverso rientrato

commande

indenter

Einzug

βάζω πιο μέσα

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɪndɛnt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: indenten

In summary

Partly from Middle English indenten (“to dent in”), equivalent to in- + dent (see dent); partly from Middle English indenten, endenten, from Old French endenter (“to provide with teeth”), from en- (“in-, en-”) + dent (“tooth”), from Latin dēns.