Italics are letters which slope to the right. Italics are often used to emphasize a particular word or sentence. The examples in this dictionary are printed in italics.
2. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Italic letters slope to the right.
She addressed them by hand in her beautiful italic script.
italic in British English
(ɪˈtælɪk)
adjective
1. Also: Italian
of, relating to, or denoting a style of handwriting with the letters slanting to the right
noun
2.
a style of printing type modelled on this, chiefly used to indicate emphasis, a foreign word, etc
Compare roman1
3. (often plural)
italic type or print
Word origin
C16 (after an edition of Virgil (1501) printed in Venice and dedicated to Italy):from Latin Italicus of Italy, from Greek Italikos
Italic in British English
(ɪˈtælɪk)
noun
1.
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
2.
denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages, esp the extinct ones
Italic in American English
(ɪˈtælɪk; aɪˈtælɪk)
noun
1.
a branch of the Indo-European language family, including Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, and other languages of ancient Italy, as well as Latin's descendants, the Romance languages
adjective
2.
of these languages
3.
of ancient Italy or its peoples or cultures
Word origin
L Italicus
italic in American English
(ɪˈtælɪk; aɪˈtælɪk)
adjective
1.
designating or of a type in which the characters slant upward to the right, used variously, as to emphasize words, indicate foreign words, setoff book titles, etc. (Ex.: this is italic type)
noun
2.
an italic letter or other character
3. [usually pl., sometimes with sing. v.]
italic type or print
Word origin
see Italic: so called because first used in an Italian edition of Virgil (1501)
Examples of 'italic' in a sentence
italic
They were in italics and not bold.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The new system will make it simple to use italics and bold text, and to insert web links.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
And he declared that "attainment of the knowledge belonging to these highly interesting subjects is founded almost wholly upon observation" (italics added ).
Yearley, Steven Science, Technology, and Social Change (1988)
Word lists with
italic
Language Groups
In other languages
italic
British English: italic ADJECTIVE
Italic letters slope to the right.
She addressed them by hand in her beautiful italic script.