white space

See also: whitespace

English

Alternative forms

• whitespace

Etymology

• (free time): Suggesting unfilled spaces on a calendar or schedule.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪtˌspeɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪs

Noun

white space (countable and uncountable, plural white spaces)

1. White area between written characters and graphic regions on a produced page or computer display; blanks and the vertical blank lines in between paragraphs, or other organized rows of text lines (poetry).

   Hyponyms: word space; tab; em space, en space; leading

2. (computer science, uncountable) A contiguous collection of one or more characters that each represents horizontal or vertical space in typography.
3. (business) Free time seen as an opportunity for gainful activity.
   • 2018 November 2, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, “It’s All About Business Model Innovation, not New Technology”, in The Wall Street Journal‎^[1]:

     […] successful companies are often risk averse and reluctant to go into uncharted white spaces that might require new strengths and whole new business models. […] What does it take to go after a white space, that is, a brand new business opportunity? It all depends on the nature of the opportunity and on the nature of the customers being served. It’s best explained by contrasting core, adjacent, and white space opportunities.

   • 2019 April 30, Meg Whitman, “explaining the Quibi business model”, in CNBC‎^[2]:

     We’re gonna go after a white space, which is very high quality content in this short form, bringing together the best of Hollywood and the best of Silicon Valley.

   • 2020 August 11, Rodger Dean Duncan, “Feel Burnout Approaching? You Could Use Some ‘White Space’”, in Forbes‎^[3]:

     Duncan: How can people get in the habit of using what you call white space to reboot their exhausted minds?
     Funt: Let’s define it first. White space is the open time, the stepping back, the strategic pause; it’s the oxygen that allows our efforts to catch fire. […] Instead of perusing impossible stretches of white space in a packed day, we look for tiny opportunities to insert an interstitial second or two- a little wedge of white space. These sips of open time can be used to reboot, to gain objectivity or to digest the intense portions of information we’re fed all day.

Related terms

• negative space

Translations

white area between written characters and graphic regions on a produced page

• Czech: bílé místo n
• Finnish: tyhjä tila
• German: Leerraum m
• Icelandic: bil (is) n, hvítbil n
• Polish: biały znak (pl) m
• Portuguese: espaço em branco m

single character or series of characters

• Czech: bílý znak m, bílé znaky m pl
• Finnish: tyhjätilamerkki
• German: Leerzeichen (de) n
• Icelandic: bil (is) n, hvítbil n
• Macedonian: белина f (belina)
• Polish: biały znak (pl) m

See also

Punctuation

• apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
• curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
• square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
• colon ( : )
• comma ( , )
• dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
• ellipsis ( … )
• exclamation mark ( ! )
• fraction slash ( ⁄ )
• guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
• hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
• interpunct ( · )
• interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
• brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
• full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
• question mark ( ? )
• quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
• quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
• semicolon ( ; )
• slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
• space ( ] [ )