Description

The <dl> (short for definition list) tag specifies a definition list. It is a list of terms with their associated definitions. A common use for this element is to implement a glossary.

Definition lists vary only slightly from other types of lists in that list items consist of two parts: a term and a description.

  • The term is given by the <dt> element and can only contains inline-level elements.
  • The description is given with a <dd> element that can contains block-level elements.

The following table summarizes the usages context and the version history of this tag.

Placement:Block
Content:<li> elements that are constrained to contain inline content only
Start/ End Tag:Start tag: required, End tag: required
Version:HTML 2, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5

Syntax

The basic syntax of the <dl> tag is given with:

HTML/XHTML: <dl> ... </dl>

The example below shows the <dl> tag in action. 

<dl>
    <dt>term1</dt>
    <dd>– definition1</dd>
    <dt>term2</dt>
    <dd>– definition2</dd>
</dl>

Tag-Specific Attributes

The <dl> tag doesn't have any specific attribute.

Global Attributes

Like all other HTML tags, the <dl> tag supports the global attributes in HTML5.

Event Attributes

The <dl> tag also supports the event attributes in HTML5.

Browser Compatibility

Element
<dl>YesYesYesYesYes