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fixed-width font

fixed-width font

3.8
A style where every letter has the same width, like in typewriters
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : fuente de ancho fijo
  • Maybe something almost fixed-width, so that the '.'s and ','s and 'i's and spaces stand out more, but that still saves some horizontal space compared to a fixed-width font.

Examples

  • Fixed-width fonts (for example, Courier and Data Gothic) look appealing and allow easy alignment of code.

    Academic text (2011)
  • A fixed-width font allows each character to take up the same amount of horizontal space, making it ideal for coding.

  • I brought up the terminal's "profile preferences" box, unchecked "use the system fixed width font," and chose Source Code Pro.

    Blog text (3)
  • My own reason to switch, and possibly part of the larger reason, is that a nosed smiley looks good in variable-width fonts, nice and balanced, but looks very silly in fixed-width fonts.

    Blog text (5)
  • I prefer using a fixed-width font in my code editor to ensure that all lines align perfectly.

  • When designing the layout, I used a fixed-width font for better readability of the numbers and symbols.

Synonyms

monospaced font
vsfixed-width font
  • Specialized
1 4.0

A set of letters where each one has the same width so columns line up

is the same meaning but uses a different common name
monospace
vsfixed-width font
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A font where every character has the same width

is the same concept but uses a longer descriptive name
constant-width font
vsfixed-width font
  • Specialized
3.4

A style of text where every letter takes the same amount of space

is the general technical term without device examples
typewriter font
vsfixed-width font
3.7

A print style where each letter takes the same space, like an old typewriter

is the broader technical term not tied to an old device

Antonyms

proportional font
  • Specialized
4.6

A font where letters and symbols have different widths

Surface Forms

Morphology

fixed-width + font

The meaning is compositionally obvious: 'fixed' (not changing) + 'width' (horizontal size) applied to 'font' (typeface) yields a typeface whose character width does not vary. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common descriptive pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand the MWE.

Etymology

Fixed-width font comes from old typewriters, where every letter took the same space on the line. The fixed width for each character makes text or code line up exactly, so this font is used today when you need clear columns and exact spacing.