verb
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to print (textual matter) in italic type
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(tr) to underline (letters, words, etc) with a single line to indicate italics
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of italicize
Explanation
When you italicize your writing, you print or type in the slanted letters called "italics." You can italicize a word in a sentence when you want to emphasize it. People italicize for various reasons: they might italicize the title of a book, or a section of dialogue that's yelled by a character in a story. Print that you italicize usually slopes from left to right, and it resembles script or cursive writing. Italicize and italics come from the Latin word for "Italian," italicus. This print style was named in honor of the Italian printer credited as the first to use it.
Vocabulary lists containing italicize
STAAR Grade 5 Reading: Informational Text, List 2
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Week 2 Spelling
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Week 3 Vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Notes allows you to bold and italicize, too, which I do every once in a while if I’m feeling wild.
From The Verge • Jan. 17, 2022
Occasionally, he had to push back against publishers who wanted to italicize or Anglicize Swahili and Arabic references and phrases in his books, he said.
From New York Times • Oct. 7, 2021
Rayne’s production does not italicize the issue, but the show is not indifferent, either.
From Washington Post • Sep. 28, 2017
But vandalism’s crude delinquency merely serves to italicize Prince’s theme.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2017
Do not italicize foreign titles preceding names of foreign institutions or places, streets, etc., the meaning or position of which in English would call for roman type.
From The Uses of Italic A Primer of Information Regarding the Origin and Uses of Italic Letters by Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
