indentation

英 [ˌɪnden'teɪʃn] 美 [ˌɪnden'teɪʃn]

n.刻痕；印压；缩进；（海岸线等）凹进处

◉词源

源自中古英语 indenten（切齿形或压痕），来自古法语 endenter（提供牙齿），原指合同文件边缘切锯齿形以防伪造，18世纪扩展为“凹痕”或印刷中的“段落缩进”。

◉外刊例句

《The New York Times》，2025

The above indentation in a Chicago sidewalk has been nicknamed the Chicago Rat Hole.

芝加哥人行道上的这个凹痕被昵称为芝加哥鼠洞。

《The New York Times》，2025

A statistical analysis of an infamous indentation in a sidewalk suggested a 99 percent likelihood that another rodent made the mark.

对人行道上这个臭名昭著的凹痕的统计分析表明，有99%的可能性是另一种啮齿动物留下的痕迹。

◉经典名著

There was an indentation on the tissue paper where a jar had been removed.

薄纸上有一个罐子被移走的凹痕。

The margin showed a slight indentation from the pressure.

边缘因压力而显示出轻微的凹痕。

◉ Usage Examples

(1) For this reason, the continuation lines of the long literal do not have the normal indentation.

(2) To ensure that your Rapid Response is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.

(1) 正因如此，长字符串字面值的后继行才不会有正常的缩进。

(2) 为了保证那，你的快速的反应没作为一长段被格式化，与空白的行或缩进先于新段。

◉ Usage Notes

An indentation is a notch, cut, or dent in something. If you take a hammer to a piece of metal, you will make a series of indentations.

The dent in indentation shares a root with your dentist, and an indentation is basically like a tooth mark. Except some "teeth" are larger than others — a meteorite leaves a huge indentation in the ground, just as a sharp pencil could make a tiny indentation in your finger. You can talk about conceptual indentation, too. Loving the novel Anna Karenina might make an indentation in your general aversion to reading. It’s that’s good.

◉柯林斯词典

1[N-COUNT 可数名词]行首缩格，行首留空格 An indentation is the space at the beginning of a line of writing when it starts further away from the edge of the paper than all the other lines.

2[N-COUNT 可数名词]凹口；缺口 An indentation is a shallow hole or cut in the surface or edge of something.

Using a knife, make slight indentations around the edges of the pastry.

用刀子绕馅饼边沿刻小锯齿。