Definition Lists in Markdown

Definition lists are used to create terms and the corrisponding definitions. They are useful for creating FAQ's, glossaries, dictionaries, and other content that pairs a term with a description.

While not part of standard Markdown, definition lists are supported in many extended Markdown processors.

Basic syntax

The basic definition list is made up of:

• A term on a single line.
• A colon (:) followed by the definition on the next line (often indented).

Syntax:

Term 1
: Definition of term 1

Term 2
: Definition of term 2

Result:

Term 1 : Definition of term 1

Term 2 : Definition of term 2

Multiple definitions

You can provide multiple definitions for one term with extra definition lines:

Syntax:

Term
: First definition
: Second definition
: Third definition

Result:

Term : First definition : Second definition : Third definition

Multi-paragraph definitions

For longer definitions with multiple paragraphs, we can indent the extra paragraphs:

Syntax:

Term with multi-paragraphs
: First paragraph of the definition.

  Second paragraph of the definition.

  Third paragraph of the definition.

Result:

Term with multi-paragraphs : First paragraph of the definition.

Second paragraph of the definition.

Third paragraph of the definition.

Markdown elements in definition lists

Definition descriptions can often include other Markdown elements like text-formatting, links, lists, and code::

Syntax:

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Result:

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Nested definition lists

Some Markdown processors support nested definition lists:

Syntax:

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Result (may vary depending on Markdown processor):

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Introduction To Markdown : Discover what Markdown is, varius uses, and how to set it up.

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HTML equivalent

Markdown Definition lists are converted to HTML using the following tags:

• <dl>: definition list.
• <dt>: definition term.
• <dd>: definition description.

<dl>
  <dt>Term 1</dt>
  <dd>Term 1 definition</dd>

  <dt>Term 2</dt>
  <dd>Term 2 definition</dd>
</dl>