diff --git a/Doc/library/json.rst b/Doc/library/json.rst
index 4a26419e65bee4..328a170ae7221d 100644
--- a/Doc/library/json.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/json.rst
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ Basic Usage
       a string (such as ``"\t"``) is used to indent each level.
       If zero, negative, or ``""`` (the empty string),
       only newlines are inserted.
-      If ``None`` (the default), the most compact representation is used.
+      If ``None`` (the default), no newlines are inserted.
    :type indent: int | str | None
 
    :param separators:
diff --git a/Lib/json/__init__.py b/Lib/json/__init__.py
index 89396b25a2cbb3..28525539150039 100644
--- a/Lib/json/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/json/__init__.py
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ def dump(obj, fp, *, skipkeys=False, ensure_ascii=True, check_circular=True,
 
     If ``indent`` is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and
     object members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent
-    level of 0 will only insert newlines. ``None`` is the most compact
-    representation.
+    level of 0 will only insert newlines. ``None`` gives a compact
+    representation; see below.
 
     If specified, ``separators`` should be an ``(item_separator,
     key_separator)`` tuple.  The default is ``(', ', ': ')`` if *indent* is
@@ -206,8 +206,8 @@ def dumps(obj, *, skipkeys=False, ensure_ascii=True, check_circular=True,
 
     If ``indent`` is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and
     object members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent
-    level of 0 will only insert newlines. ``None`` is the most compact
-    representation.
+    level of 0 will only insert newlines. ``None`` gives a compact
+    representation; see below.
 
     If specified, ``separators`` should be an ``(item_separator,
     key_separator)`` tuple.  The default is ``(', ', ': ')`` if *indent* is