diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/MediaWiki.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/MediaWiki.hs
index b7460b82e..1112007c6 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/MediaWiki.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/MediaWiki.hs
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ readMediaWiki opts s = do
                                             , mwIdentifierList = Set.empty
                                             , mwLogMessages = []
                                             , mwInTT = False
+                                            , mwAllowNewlines = True
                                             }
             sources
   case parsed of
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ data MWState = MWState { mwOptions         :: ReaderOptions
                        , mwIdentifierList  :: Set.Set Text
                        , mwLogMessages     :: [LogMessage]
                        , mwInTT            :: Bool
+                       , mwAllowNewlines   :: Bool
                        }
 
 type MWParser m = ParsecT Sources MWState m
@@ -453,9 +455,8 @@ defListTerm = do
   guardColumnOne
   char ';'
   skipMany spaceChar
-  pos' <- getPosition
-  anyLine >>= parseFromString (do setPosition pos'
-                                  trimInlines . mconcat <$> many inline)
+  trimInlines . mconcat <$> many (notFollowedBy (oneOf ":\r\n") *> inline) <*
+    optional newline
 
 listStart :: PandocMonad m => Char -> MWParser m ()
 listStart c = char c *> notFollowedBy listStartChar
@@ -472,7 +473,7 @@ li = lookAhead (htmlTag (~== TagOpen ("li" :: Text) [])) *>
 
 listItem :: PandocMonad m => Char -> MWParser m Blocks
 listItem c = try $ do
-  guardColumnOne
+  guardColumnOne <|> guard (c == ':') -- def can start on same line as term
   extras <- many (try $ char c <* lookAhead listStartChar)
   if null extras
      then listItem' c
@@ -607,13 +608,14 @@ whitespace = B.space <$ (skipMany1 spaceChar <|> htmlComment)
          <|> B.softbreak <$ endline
 
 endline :: PandocMonad m => MWParser m ()
-endline = () <$ try (newline <*
-                     notFollowedBy spaceChar <*
-                     notFollowedBy newline <*
-                     notFollowedBy' hrule <*
-                     notFollowedBy tableStart <*
-                     notFollowedBy' header <*
-                     notFollowedBy anyListStart)
+endline = do
+ getState >>= guard . mwAllowNewlines
+ () <$ try (newline <* notFollowedBy spaceChar <*
+                       notFollowedBy newline <*
+                       notFollowedBy' hrule <*
+                       notFollowedBy tableStart <*
+                       notFollowedBy' header <*
+                       notFollowedBy anyListStart)
 
 imageIdentifier :: PandocMonad m => MWParser m ()
 imageIdentifier = try $ do
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/MediaWiki.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/MediaWiki.hs
index 10823c8db..2991e4ebc 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/MediaWiki.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/MediaWiki.hs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import Text.Pandoc.XML (escapeStringForXML)
 data WriterState = WriterState {
     stNotes   :: Bool            -- True if there are notes
   , stOptions :: WriterOptions   -- writer options
+  , stInDefLabel :: Bool         -- True if in definition list label
   }
 
 data WriterReader = WriterReader {
@@ -51,7 +52,8 @@ type MediaWikiWriter m = ReaderT WriterReader (StateT WriterState m)
 -- | Convert Pandoc to MediaWiki.
 writeMediaWiki :: PandocMonad m => WriterOptions -> Pandoc -> m Text
 writeMediaWiki opts document =
-  let initialState = WriterState { stNotes = False, stOptions = opts }
+  let initialState = WriterState {
+        stNotes = False, stOptions = opts, stInDefLabel = False }
       env = WriterReader { options = opts, listLevel = [], useTags = False }
   in  evalStateT (runReaderT (pandocToMediaWiki document) env) initialState
 
@@ -237,7 +239,9 @@ definitionListItemToMediaWiki :: PandocMonad m
                               => ([Inline],[[Block]])
                               -> MediaWikiWriter m Text
 definitionListItemToMediaWiki (label, items) = do
+  modify $ \st -> st{ stInDefLabel = True }
   labelText <- inlineListToMediaWiki label
+  modify $ \st -> st{ stInDefLabel = False }
   contents <- mapM blockListToMediaWiki items
   tags <- asks useTags
   if tags
@@ -446,7 +450,13 @@ inlineToMediaWiki (Cite _  lst) = inlineListToMediaWiki lst
 inlineToMediaWiki (Code _ str) =
   return $ "<code>" <> escapeText str <> "</code>"
 
-inlineToMediaWiki (Str str) = return $ escapeText str
+inlineToMediaWiki (Str str) = do
+  inDefLabel <- gets stInDefLabel
+  return $
+    if inDefLabel
+       then T.intercalate "<nowiki>:</nowiki>" $
+              map escapeText $ T.splitOn ":" str
+       else escapeText str
 
 inlineToMediaWiki (Math mt str) = return $
   "<math display=\"" <>
diff --git a/test/command/10708.md b/test/command/10708.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d8296dd95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/command/10708.md
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+```
+% pandoc -f html -t mediawiki
+<dl>
+<dt>Case 1: Both subsets are non-empty</dt>
+<dd>
+In this case, …
+</dd>
+</dl>
+^D
+; Case 1<nowiki>:</nowiki> Both subsets are non-empty
+: In this case, …
+```
+
+```
+% pandoc -f mediawiki -t html
+; term : definition
+^D
+<dl>
+<dt>term</dt>
+<dd>
+definition
+</dd>
+</dl>
+```