ITALIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Italian mean? 

• ITALIAN (noun)
  The noun ITALIAN has 2 senses:

1. a native or inhabitant of Italy

2. the Romance language spoken in Italy

  Familiarity information: ITALIAN used as a noun is rare.

• ITALIAN (adjective)
  The adjective ITALIAN has 1 sense:

1. of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language

  Familiarity information: ITALIAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ITALIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of Italy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Italian" is a kind of...):

European (a native or inhabitant of Europe)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Italian"):

Sardinian (a native or inhabitant of Sardinia)

Neapolitan (a native or inhabitant of Naples)

Milanese (a native or inhabitant of Milan)

Genoese (a native or resident of Genoa)

Florentine (a native or resident of Florence, Italy)

Samnite (an Oscan-speaking member of an ancient people of Campania who clashed repeatedly with the early Romans)

Oscan (an Oscan-speaking member of an ancient people of Campania)

Tuscan (a resident of Tuscany)

Sicilian (a resident of Sicily)

Venetian (a resident of Venice)

Sabine (a member of an ancient Oscan-speaking people of the central Apennines north of Rome who were conquered and assimilated into the Roman state in 290 BC)

Roman (a resident of modern Rome)

Neopolitan (a resident of Naples)

Etruscan (a native or inhabitant of ancient Etruria; the Etruscans influenced the Romans (who had suppressed them by about 200 BC))

dago; ginzo; greaseball; Guinea; wop ((ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Italian descent)

Holonyms ("Italian" is a member of...):

Italia; Italian Republic; Italy (a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD)

Derivation:

Italian (of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The Romance language spoken in Italy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Italian" is a kind of...):

Latinian language; Romance; Romance language (the group of languages derived from Latin)

Domain member category:

Signorina (an Italian title or form of address for an unmarried woman)

Signora (an Italian title or form of address for a married woman)

donna (an Italian woman of rank)

Domain region:

Italia; Italian Republic; Italy (a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Italian"):

Sardinian (the Italian dialect spoken in Sardinia; sometimes considered a separate language with many loan words from Spanish)

Tuscan (a dialect of Italian spoken in Tuscany (especially Florence))

Old Italian (the Italian language up to the middle of the 16th century)

Derivation:

Italian (of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language)

• ITALIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Italian cooking

Pertainym:

Italy (a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD)

Derivation:

Italian (the Romance language spoken in Italy)

Italian (a native or inhabitant of Italy)

Italy (a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD)

 Context examples 

The beautiful Italian looked with awe at my companion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a well-known ne’er-do-well among the Italian colony.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had two successors: an Italian, Giacinta, and a German, Clara; both considered singularly handsome.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The Italian Greyhound is a miniature Greyhound with a long head thinning gradually to a pointed muzzle.

(Italian Greyhound, NCI Thesaurus)

"That's why he has such handsome black eyes and pretty manners, I suppose. Italians are always nice," said Meg, who was a little sentimental.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He begged her pardon, but she must be applied to, to explain Italian again.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Amid renewed thanks and with promises to come again, the two squires bade their leave of the old Italian glass-stainer and his daughter.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then, having taken another look round, I returned to my carriage, where I found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had given me my decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The word imports what the Latins call nanunculus, the Italians homunceletino, and the English mannikin.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

In 1816, an Italian anatomist reported finding lymphatic vessels on the surface of the brain, but for two centuries, it was forgotten.

(NIH researchers uncover drain pipes in our brains, National Institutes of Health)