If you leave space before the definition (as in the example above), the text of the definition will be treated as a paragraph. In some output formats, this will mean greater spacing between term/definition pairs. For a more compact definition list, omit the space before the definition ......
Term 1 ~ Definition 1
Term 2 ~ Definition 2a ~ Definition 2b
......
- Term 1
- Definition 1
- Term 2
- Definition 2a
- Definition 2b