italic

[ ih-tal-ik, ahy-tal- ]

See synonyms for italic on Thesaurus.com

adjective

designating or pertaining to a style of printing types in which the letters usually slope to the right, patterned upon a compact manuscript hand, and used for emphasis, to separate different kinds of information, etc.: These words are in italic type.
(initial capital letter) of or relating to Italy, especially ancient Italy or its tribes.

noun

Often italics. italic type.
(initial capital letter) a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, including ancient Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, and modern Romance.

Origin of italic

1555–65; <Latin Italicus<Greek Italikós, equivalent to Ital(ía) Italy + -ikos-ic

Other words from italic

non-I·tal·ic, adjective, noun

Words Nearby italic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use italic in a sentence

Emotions cause the brain to store memory in a stronger and more permanent fashion, set down in bold type and italics.
You can’t completely trust your memories | David Linden | September 30, 2020 | Popular-Science
Note that text format (bold or italic) has semantic meaning in this volume.
Selections from Early Middle English 1130-1250: Part II: Notes | Various
Still another abhors dashes or colons, or quotation marks, and yet another will not have italic type used in his work.
The Building of a Book | Various
Pervenerunt ad nos propositiones qudam italic satis Lutheran.
History of the Great Reformation, Volume IV | J. H. Merle D'Aubign
Quirinus, kwi-rī′nus, n. an italic divinity identified with the deified Romulus.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) | Various

At the north pole is an hour circle bearing the inscription “Index Hor: italic.”
Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Vol II | Edward Luther Stevenson

British Dictionary definitions for italic (1 of 2)

italic

/ (ɪˈtælɪk) /

adjective

Also: Italian of, relating to, or denoting a style of handwriting with the letters slanting to the right

noun

a style of printing type modelled on this, chiefly used to indicate emphasis, a foreign word, etc: Compare roman 1
(often plural) italic type or print

Origin of italic

C16 (after an edition of Virgil (1501) printed in Venice and dedicated to Italy): from Latin Italicus of Italy, from Greek Italikos

British Dictionary definitions for Italic (2 of 2)

Italic

/ (ɪˈtælɪk) /

noun

a branch of the Indo-European family of languages that includes many of the ancient languages of Italy, such as Venetic and the Osco-Umbrian group, Latin, which displaced them, and the Romance languages

adjective

denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages, esp the extinct ones

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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