From the documentation page 236 ( ConTEXt reference manual )
%----------------------------------------------------- \definedescription [definition] [location=serried, headstyle=bold,width=broad, sample={icon}%% senseless here ] \starttext \definition{icon} What for some languages looked like a handicap has now become a feature. Thousands of words and concepts are already layed down in characters. These characters therefore can be considered icons. \par \stoptext %----------------------------------------------------- The setting location=serried is useless here in fact of the empty line after \definition{icon}. If I delete the line and add another entry like \definition{iconize} some text here then I can see that the setting sample={icon} has no meaning. It is only taken into account _without_ location=serried. Herbert