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HTML <dfn> Definition Tag

The HTML Definition Tag used to define the term , that is specified in the context of the definition phrase or sentence. If a term is contained within the element then browsers understand that nearby text contains a definition of the term.

The tag, the

/
pair, or the tag is considered to be the term’s definition. Mostly the browsers will display the text found within the tag as italicized text. You can change this behavior with CSS property.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Syntax:

The definition tag contains both the starting tag and ending tag. The content is written between these two tags.


<dfn> Definition term </dfn> - Definition.

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HTML Tag Characteristics:

th, td{ padding: 20px; }

| HTML tag | Specifies a definition term |
| Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
| Permitted content | Phrasing content. But not element must be a descendant. |
| Tag omission | None, both opening and closing tags are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any HTML element that accepts phrasing content. |
| Implicit ARIA role | term |
| Permitted ARIA roles | Any |
| DOM interface | HTML Element |

Sample of the HTML Tag:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>HTML <dfn> Tag</title>
  </head>
  <body>
<h3>Example for Definition tag</h3>
    <p>
<dfn>HTML</dfn> - It is the technology used to create web pages
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

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Result:

Result

Download Sample File:

HTML-dfn-tagDownload

  • The term inside the tag can be any of the following:
    • Just as the content of the element
    • With the “title” attribute
    • With a tag inside the tag
    • With the “id” attribute, and you can refer back to the definition with the tag

Example of HTML tag with a “title” Attribute:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>HTML <dfn> Tag</title>
  </head>
  <body>
<h3>HTML <dfn> Tag with "title" attribute</h3>
    <p>
    <dfn title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</dfn> - It is the technology used to create web pages.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

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Result:

Result

Example of HTML tag with the tag:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>HTML <dfn> Tag</title>
  </head>
  <body>
<h3>HTML <dfn> Tag with <abbr> tag</h3>
    <p>
    <dfn><abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr></dfn> - It is the technology used to create web pages.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

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Result:

Result

Example of HTML Tag with the “id” Attribute:


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
    <title>HTML <dfn> Tag</title>
  </head>
<body>
<h3>HTML <dfn> Tag with "id" attribute</h3>
<p><dfn id="html-def">HTML</dfn> is the standard markup language for creating web pages.</p>

<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>This is some text...</p>
<p>Learn <a href="#html-def">HTML</a> now.</p>
</body>
</html>

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Result:

Result

Attributes:

The Definition tag supports the global attributes and the event attributes in HTML.

th, td{ padding: 20px; }

Attribute Value Description
title This attribute will specify the abbreviation of the definition term when hovering the mouse over the term.

Styling Methods for Tag:

You can use the following properties to style an HTML <dfn> Definition tag.

Properties to style the visual weight/emphasis/size of the text in tag:

  • CSS font-style – This CSS property helps to set the font style of the text such as normal, italic, oblique, initial, inherit.
  • CSS font-family – This CSS property specifies a prioritized list of one or more font family names or generic family names for the selected element.
  • CSS font-size – This CSS property will help to set the size of the font.
  • CSS font-weight – This CSS property used to define whether the font should be bold or thick.
  • CSS text-transform – This CSS property will control the text case and capitalization.
  • CSS test-decoration – This CSS property specifies the decoration added to text such as text-decoration-line , text-decoration-color , text-decoration- style.

Styles to coloring the text in Tag:

  • CSS color – This CSS property will specify the color of the text content and decorations.
  • CSS background-color – This CSS property helps to set the background color of an element.

Text layout styles for Tag:

  • CSS text-indent – This CSS property is used to specify the indentation of the first line in a text block.
  • *CSS text-overflow * – This CSS property helps to describe how overflowed content that is not displayed should be signaled to the user.
  • CSS white-space – This CSS property describes how white-space inside an element is handled.
  • CSS word-break – This CSS property decides where the lines should be broken.

Other Properties for Tag:

  • CSS text-shadow – This CSS property helps to add the shadow to text.
  • CSS text-align-last – This CSS property will set the alignment of the last line of the text.
  • CSS line-height – This CSS property defines the height of a line.
  • CSS letter-spacing – This CSS property helps to decide the spaces between letters/characters in a text.
  • CSS word-spacing – This CSS property specifies the spacing between every word.

Browser Support:

Browser Support

Related Articles:

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