italic

adjective

ital·ic | \ ə-ˈta-lik

, i-, ī-\

Definition of italic

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : of or relating to a type style with characters that slant upward to the right (as in "these words are italic") — compare roman

b : of or relating to a style of slanted cursive handwriting developed in the 15th and 16th centuries

2 capitalized : of or relating to ancient Italy, its peoples, or their Indo-European languages

italic

noun

Definition of italic (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : an italic character or type

2 capitalized : a branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian — see Indo-European Languages Table

Examples of italic in a Sentence

Noun

These words are printed in italic. The type should be set in italics. These words are printed in italics.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

The New York Times sent out a breaking news alert and threw a bold, italic headline across its front page announcing the potential change in policy. — Tina Nguyen, The Hive, "Donald Trump Dupes the Media with Another Immigration Head Fake," 1 Mar. 2017 In each case, the subtitle appears in bold or italic, followed by a short paragraph in plain text describing the scope and results of the project. — Amy Lindgren, Twin Cities, "Working Strategies: Making strategic use of optional résumé sections," 28 Jan. 2017 The italic angle conveys forward motion, innovation, and progress. — Derek Hawkins, chicagotribune.com, "PayPal says Pandora latched onto its brand with new, similar logo," 24 May 2017 The New York Times sent out a breaking news alert and threw a bold, italic headline across its front page announcing the potential change in policy. — Tina Nguyen, The Hive, "Donald Trump Dupes the Media with Another Immigration Head Fake," 1 Mar. 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Our background information and analysis is in italics. — Sarah Chaney, WSJ, "Nineteen Central Bankers Walk Into a Bar…," 11 Jan. 2019 Each recipient receives a shawl with a letter - its words are in italics in this column. — Joanne Berger Dumound/special To Cleveland.com., cleveland.com, "Prayer shawls bring warmth, comfort and blessings: Olmsted Dates and Data," 22 Jan. 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018 His hyperbolic, stylized writing work was a gleeful fusillade of exclamation points, italics and improbable words. — kansascity, "In memoriam list for May 20: Author Tom Wolfe, Margot ‘Lois Lane’ Kidder | The Kansas City Star," 20 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'italic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.