I. ə̇ˈtalik, -lēk also (ˈ)ī|t- adjective
Etymology: Latin Italicus Italian, of Italy, from Greek Italikos, from Italia Italy + -ikos -ic
1. usually capitalized
a.
[New Latin Italica, from Latin, feminine of Italicus ]
: composite a
b. of handwriting : characterized by a sloping angle suggestive of italics
written in a medieval Italic script
— compare gothic 3
c.
(1) : of, relating to, or characteristic of ancient Italy
(2) : of, relating to, or characteristic of the peoples of ancient Italy
vanished Italic cultures
d.
(1) : of, relating to, or characteristic of a branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Latin and other languages (as Oscan, Umbrian) spoken by the peoples of ancient Italy and that also includes the Romance languages (as Italian, French, Spanish) descended from Latin
(2) : of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient languages of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family as contrasted with the modern Romance languages
(3) : of, relating to, or characteristic of Osco-Umbrian
2. sometimes capitalized : of, relating to, produced in, or characteristic of a style of distinctively printed letters or numbers or other characters that slant upward to the right (as in “ these words are italic ”) and that are sometimes distinguished from other faces (as some obliques) having about the same degree of slant by the form of the letter a and that are typically used to give emphasis to a word or group of words or to refer to words as words or to indicate words or phrases foreign to the language of a context or to refer to titles of long works
beautifully printed italic letters
paragraphs beginning with italic capitals
II. noun
( -s )
1. sometimes capitalized
a. : an italic character : italic type
an italic is used at the beginning of each subdivision
introduced italics as a device for achieving emphasis
printed in italic
a font of italics
b. : a written letter or number or other character (as in a handwritten or typed manuscript) that is underscored for emphasis or for some other purpose achieved in print by the use of italic type or that is so underscored (as in a handwritten or typed manuscript sent to a printer) to indicate that the matter underscored is to be set in italic type
each italic is clearly underlined
writes a delighted “ yes! ” with italics and a mark of exclamation — R.G.F.Robinson
after the underscored sentence in the manuscript the author writes “ italics mine”
c. usually italics plural but sometimes singular in construction : exaggerated intonation or some similar oral speech device by which one or more words is heavily and usually affectedly emphasized or otherwise given sharp prominence
was yapping, her silly voice fraught with italics — Margaret Long
a woman who has an irritating way of speaking in italics — W.J.Locke
2. capitalized
a. : a branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Latin and other languages (as Oscan, Umbrian) spoken by the peoples of ancient Italy and that also includes the Romance languages (as Italian, French, Spanish) descended from Latin — see indo-european languages table
b. : the group of ancient languages of this branch as contrasted with the modern Romance languages
c. : osco-umbrian