If something is recessed, it is fitted into a part of a wall (or another surface) that sits further back than the rest, so it does not stick out. Recessed lights are the ones set up into the ceiling; a recessed shelf sits in a shallow hole in the wall; a recessed handle is pushed into the door instead of standing proud. Interior designers, architects, and furniture shops use this word a lot. It comes from recess, a set-back space in a wall. Though actually, recess has another life in American schools, where it means break time — and that is not this word at all. Recessed here is about shape and fitting, not about a holiday or a pause.