italic

adjective

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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 Users can even apply italic, bold or light styling to letters and numbers without changing their alignment on spreadsheets. — Josh Wagner, New York Times, "Goldman Sachs Has Money. It Has Power. And Now It Has a Font," 21 Aug. 2020 Popular fonts, such as those preinstalled on your computer, typically come in four styles: regular, bold, italic, and bold italic. — Klint Finley, Wired, "Buy One of These Fonts—Then Decide If It's Your Type," 9 Mar. 2020 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 Plus, pay close attention to scientific names in italics as there may be a mind-boggling array of cultivar varieties. — Jennifer Rude Klett, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Don't plant these 10 invasive species in your yard: tiger lilies, burning bush and more," 7 May 2020 Popular fonts, such as those preinstalled on your computer, typically come in four styles: regular, bold, italic, and bold italic. — Klint Finley, Wired, "Buy One of These Fonts—Then Decide If It's Your Type," 9 Mar. 2020 At Keolis, the FRA oversight personnel identified a potential hazard and contractor/agency personnel implemented risk mitigation strategies to address it before a significant event occurred,’’ the experts wrote, with italics for emphasis. — BostonGlobe.com, "Safety experts gave the MBTA transit system," 11 Dec. 2019 Type could be handwritten, created with a typewriter, or one of two fonts, Futura bold or Caslon italic. — Christopher Borrelli, chicagotribune.com, "Chicago graphic designer brings a unique vision to the covers she creates for already-published books," 11 May 2018 Stats in bold indicate National League leader; stats in italics and bold indicate MLB leader. — Emma Baccellieri, SI.com, "The National League Award Races Are Ridiculously Close With Weeks to Go," 5 Sep. 2019 Bishop wrote, in uncharacteristic italics, after reading drafts of the poems. — Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker, "Marriage, Betrayal, and the Letters Behind “The Dolphin”," 9 Dec. 2019 Records that were disclosed included sales brochures from LSI, featuring liberal use of italics, bold letters, multiple fonts and type sizes, all caps and exclamation points. — Ken Armstrong, ProPublica, "Why Are Cops Around the World Using This Outlandish Mind-Reading Tool?," 8 Dec. 2019 Stats in bold indicate American League leader; stats in bold and italics indicate MLB leader. — Jon Tayler, SI.com, "Awards Watch: Will Justin Verlander's Teammate Snatch His Cy Young Award?," 4 Sep. 2019

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.