Inline styles are a way to apply CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) directly to an HTML element using the "style" attribute. This method allows you to specify individual styles for a specific element without affecting others. For example, you can change the color, font size, or margin of a single paragraph by adding styles directly within the HTML tag. While inline styles are convenient for quick changes, they can make your code harder to maintain. Using inline styles can lead to repetitive code, as the same styles must be applied to each element individually. For larger projects, it's often better to use external or internal stylesheets to keep your code organized and efficient.