To italicize a word is to print or type it in letters that lean to the right — the style called italics. Writers and teachers do this when a word needs to stand out: the title of a book or film, a word from another language, or a word you should read with extra feeling. On a computer you often click a button, and the machine italicizes the words for you. In American spelling it is italicize; in British spelling you may see italicise. People sometimes say italicize when they only mean “make it noticeable” — though actually bold type and underlining are different tools, and italics have their own job. If you italicize almost every line, nothing is special any more.