HTML <dl> Description List Tag
Tags: learnhtml, htmld
Published: 2021-05-10 05:40:50

---
title: HTML <dl> Description List Tag
published: true
date: 2021-02-23 20:35:23 UTC
tags: LearnHTML,HTMLD
canonical_url: https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/html-dl-description-list-tag/
---

The **<dl>** tag stands for **Description list or Definition List** in HTML. This tag is used to **create a definitions list**. It is the parent element for **<dt> Definition Term** and **<dd>**  **Definition Description** tags.

The **<dl>** tag is most commonly used to **display the glossaries or definitions** of terms. A definition list is similar to other list by it contains two entries such as **a term** and **its description**.

<svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-icon="clock" width="20" height="20" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" style="display:inline-block;vertical-align:-0.1em" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewbox="0 0 24 24"><path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M12 8v4l3 3m6-3a9 9 0 11-18 0 9 9 0 0118 0z"></path></svg>Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

## Syntax:

The <dl> tag contains both an **opening <dl> tag** and **closing </dl> tag**. The content is written between these two tags.

```

<dl>
<dt>Definition Term</dt>
<dd>Definition Description</dd>
</dl>

```

### HTML <dl> Tag Characteristics:
<style> th, td{ padding: 20px; } </style>

| HTML <dl> tag | It defines the description list. |
| Content categories | Flow content. If the <dl> element’s children include one name-value group, then it is a palpable content. |
| Permitted content | Either Zero or in <abbr title="Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group">WHATWG</abbr> HTML |
| Tag omission | None, both opening and closing tags are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts flow content. |
| Implicit ARIA role | No corresponding rolw |
| Permitted ARIA roles | group, list,none,presentation. |
| DOM interface | HTML DListElement |

## Sample of the HTML <dl> Tag:

```

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Title of the Document</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <h2>Example of HTML <dl> Tag</h2>
      <dl>
      <dt>HTML</dt>
      <dd>Hypertext Markup Language </dd>
      <dd>It is the language for authoring web documents.</dd>
      <dt>CSS</dt>
      <dd>Cascading Style Sheets</dd>
      <dd>It is the language for defining the styles and presentation of an HTML document.</dd>
      <dt> JavaScript</dt>
      <dd>A scripting language built-in to most browsers and designed to be used with web documents.</dd>
      </dl>
   </body>
</html>

```

## Result:

![](https://sharepointanchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Result-28.png)<figcaption>Result</figcaption>

### Download Sample File:

[HTML-dl-Tag](https://sharepointanchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/HTML-dl-Tag.html)[Download](https://sharepointanchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/HTML-dl-Tag.html)

## Attributes:

The <dl> tag supports both the  **global attributes**  and the  **event attributes**.

## Styling Methods for <dl> Tag:

You can use the following CSS properties to style an HTML Description List tag.

### Properties to style the visual weight/emphasis/size of the text in <dl> 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 <dl> 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 <dl> 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 <dl> 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:

![](https://sharepointanchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Browser-Support-8.png)<figcaption>Browser Support</figcaption>

### Related Articles:

- **[HTML <center> Center Tag](https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/html-center-tag/)**
- **[HTML <aside> Aside Tag](https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/html-aside-tag/)**
- **[Basic HTML Definitions and Usages in the Real World](https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/basic-html-definitions-and-usages-in-real-world/)**
- **[HTML <big> Big Tag](https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/html-big-tag/)**
- [**HTML <dd> Definition Description Tag**](https://sharepointanchor.com/learn-html/html-dd-definition-description/)

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