Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to Italy or its people, language, or culture.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Italy.
  • noun A person of Italian ancestry.
  • noun The Romance language of the Italians and an official language of Switzerland.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A member of a race of honey-bees imported into the United States from Italy and having at least three yellow bands across the abdomen when the latter is distended with honey.
  • Of or pertaining to Italy, a country and kingdom of Europe, which comprises the central one of the three southern European peninsulas, together with the adjoining region northward to the Alps, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, etc.; pertaining to the inhabitants of Italy.
  • noun A native of Italy, or one of the Italian race.
  • noun The language spoken by the inhabitants of Italy, whether the literary speech or one of the popular dialects.
  • noun Abbreviated It., Ital.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to Italy, or to its people or language.
  • adjective a light material of cotton and worsted; -- called also farmer's satin.
  • adjective a heater for fluting frills.
  • adjective Calabrian liquorice.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Italy.
  • noun The language used in Italy, or by the Italians.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to Italy, its people or its language.
  • noun An inhabitant of Italy, or a person of Italian descent.
  • proper noun The official language of Italy, also spoken in San Marino, the Vatican, and parts of Switzerland.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a native or inhabitant of Italy
  • adjective of or pertaining to or characteristic of Italy or its people or culture or language
  • noun the Romance language spoken in Italy

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin Italiānus, from Italia, Italy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin Italiānus, from Italia ("Italy")

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Examples

  • DANIELE MASTROGIACOMO, ITALIAN JOURNALIST: I ask again to Italian government, and the Afghan government to do something for us.

    CNN Transcript Apr 11, 2007 2007

  • Certain aspects of Italian literature are introduced through Kuhns's _Great Poets of Italy_ and Crane's _Italian Popular

    The Italian Twins Lucy Fitch Perkins 1901

  • Sampdoria soccer fans 'trash TV studio, attack journos' ITALIAN soccer supporters, unhappy at the reporting of their team, destroyed a television studio and attacked three journalists, Italian news website TGCom reports.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • FRANCO FRATTINI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: (speaking in Italian)

    CNN Transcript Jan 21, 2003 2003

  • We call good painting _Italian_, which painting, even though it be done in Flanders or in Spain (which approaches us most) if it be good, will be Italian painting, for this most noble science does not belong to any country, _as it came from heaven_; but even from ancient times it remained in our Italy more than in any other kingdom in the world, and I think that it will end in it. "

    Michael Angelo Buonarroti Charles Holroyd 1889

  • The title comes from the fact that the term for mouse and rat in Italian is the same.

    Lost in Translation Hal Duncan 2008

  • The winter nebbia there, as it's called in Italian, is quite unlike anything I have experienced: dense, hood-on-the-head, rain-cloud-come-to-earth fog that seemed to sock us in at least every other morning.

    Nebbia 2006

  • The winter nebbia there, as it's called in Italian, is quite unlike anything I have experienced: dense, hood-on-the-head, rain-cloud-come-to-earth fog that seemed to sock us in at least every other morning.

    Veniceblog: 2006

  • The term Italian for "proud" describes the feeling that makes a gamer lift both arms above the head in triumph.

    NYT > Home Page By JOHN TIERNEY 2010

  • But on hearing the word "Italian" one of them flies into a terrible rage.

    Libya's divided capital: Face to face with Gaddafi's militiamen 2011

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