relating to italy or to its people.-applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; -- so called because dedicated to the states of italy by the inventor, aldus manutius, about the year 1500.-an italic letter, character, or type (see italic, a., 2.); -- often in the plural; as, the italics are the author's. italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis, importance, antithesis, etc. also, collectively, italic letters.