diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
index fd1d3690e8a89..f387afde24117 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
@@ -2022,18 +2022,58 @@ def hasnans(self):
 
     def isna(self):
         """
-        Detect missing values
+        Detect missing values.
+
+        Return a boolean same-sized object indicating if the values are NA.
+        NA values, such as ``None``, :attr:`numpy.NaN` or :attr:`pd.NaT`, get
+        mapped to ``True`` values.
+        Everything else get mapped to ``False`` values. Characters such as
+        empty strings `''` or :attr:`numpy.inf` are not considered NA values
+        (unless you set :attr:`pandas.options.mode.use_inf_as_na` `= True`).
 
         .. versionadded:: 0.20.0
 
         Returns
         -------
-        a boolean array of whether my values are NA
+        numpy.ndarray
+            A boolean array of whether my values are NA
 
-        See also
+        See Also
+        --------
+        pandas.Index.notna : boolean inverse of isna.
+        pandas.Index.dropna : omit entries with missing values.
+        pandas.isna : top-level isna.
+        Series.isna : detect missing values in Series object.
+
+        Examples
         --------
-        isnull : alias of isna
-        pandas.isna : top-level isna
+        Show which entries in a pandas.Index are NA. The result is an
+        array.
+
+        >>> idx = pd.Index([5.2, 6.0, np.NaN])
+        >>> idx
+        Float64Index([5.2, 6.0, nan], dtype='float64')
+        >>> idx.isna()
+        array([False, False,  True], dtype=bool)
+
+        Empty strings are not considered NA values. None is considered an NA
+        value.
+
+        >>> idx = pd.Index(['black', '', 'red', None])
+        >>> idx
+        Index(['black', '', 'red', None], dtype='object')
+        >>> idx.isna()
+        array([False, False, False,  True], dtype=bool)
+
+        For datetimes, `NaT` (Not a Time) is considered as an NA value.
+
+        >>> idx = pd.DatetimeIndex([pd.Timestamp('1940-04-25'),
+        ...                         pd.Timestamp(''), None, pd.NaT])
+        >>> idx
+        DatetimeIndex(['1940-04-25', 'NaT', 'NaT', 'NaT'],
+                      dtype='datetime64[ns]', freq=None)
+        >>> idx.isna()
+        array([False,  True,  True,  True], dtype=bool)
         """
         return self._isnan
     isnull = isna