Word.ws English Dictionary

roman

Syllables: ro·man/ˈɹəʊmən/UK/ˈɹəʊ.mən/

roman adjective: upright, as opposed to italic. Also the ellipsis of roman numeral.

Adjective (1)

roman (not comparable)

  1. Upright, as opposed to italic.
    • In some early printed Bibles quoted text is indicated by changing the font from roman to italic.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 48
  2. Of or related to the Latin alphabet or roman numerals.

Noun (1)

roman (countable and uncountable, plural romans)

  1. One of the main three types used for the Latin alphabet (the others being italics and blackletter), in which the ascenders are mostly straight.
  2. (archaic, countable) A novel.
    • What raises One Last Waltz far above the usual family roman is not just the gimmick of the ancient fable in modern clothes […] but Mordden's language and his sheer joy at telling a story.1986 December 21, Michael Bronski, “Buddy Stories Your Brother Never Told You”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 23, page 7
    • Samuel Johnson, writing in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), [defined] "novel [as] a small tale, generally of love." To modern sensibilities, Johnson's novel resembles more closely the novella in dimension and the romance in substance. … [T]he term romance, or roman, once...2014, "Novel and Romance: Etymologies". Heyworth, Gregory; Logan, Peter Melville (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Novel, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, p. 942. →ISBN

Adjective (2) capitalized: Roman

Roman (comparative more Roman, superlative most Roman)

  1. Of or from Rome.
  2. (historical) Of or from the Roman Empire.
  3. (historical) Of or from the Byzantine Empire.
  4. Of noble countenance but with little facial expression.
    • "Yes, I feel that I ought; and with me, to feel that I ought to do a thing, is to do it!" added he, looking quite Roman with excess of virtue.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Influence of an Invitation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 16
  5. Supporting the characters of the Latin alphabet.
  6. (colloquial) Used to distinguish a Roman numeral from an Arabic numeral in oral discourse.
    • You will find the term defined at the end of Roman one.
  7. A font that is upright, as opposed to oblique or italic. (See roman font.)
  8. Of or pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church or the Holy See.
  9. Of a style characterised by the size and boldness of its round arches and vaults, and having baths, aqueducts, basilicas, amphitheatres, etc.

Noun (2) capitalized: Roman

Roman (plural Romans)

  1. A native or resident of Rome.
  2. (historical) A native or resident of the Roman Empire.
  3. (historical) A native or resident of the Byzantine Empire.
    • Kars was the capital of the small Armenian kingdom of Vanand, ruled by Gagik (the same name as the sovereign of Ani) from 1029 to 1064, when he surrendered his kingdom to the Romans. In 1053 it was taken by the Seljoukids, probably under the command of Qutlumus...2010, John Wortley trans. John Skylitzes as A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057, p. 442, n. 192
  4. (uncountable) The Roman script.
    • Sahaiʔa May Talbot was born on Feb. 15, 2014. However, on her birth certificate, her name is spelled Sahai'a because the Northwest Territories government only allows the Roman alphabet to be used on official documents.2016 June 13, Hilary Bird, “Baby named Sahaiʔa prompts changes to Vital Statistics Act”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 13 Jun 2016
  5. (countable) A single letter or character in Roman type.
  6. (dated) A Roman Catholic.
    • ‘Is it like―I don’t know―Catholicism? One only spots the other Romans when one’s practised it oneself?’2006, Sarah Waters, The Night Watch, Virago Press, page 151

Proper noun capitalized: Roman

Roman (plural Romans)

  1. A male given name from Latin recently borrowed from continental Europe.
  2. A surname.
  3. A city in Neamț County, Romania.

Also used as

roman is also the ellipsis of roman numeral.

roman meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

roman in Hindi

रोमन

roman in Tamil

ரோமன், ரோமானிய

roman in Marathi

रोमन

roman in Urdu

رومن, رومی
More languagesFewer languages
roman in Bengali
রোমান, রোমীয়
roman in Telugu
రోమన్
roman in Malayalam
റോമൻ, റോമാൻ
roman in Kannada
ರೋಮನ್
roman in Punjabi
ਰੋਮਨ
roman in Gujarati
રોમન
roman in Odia
ରୋମାନ, ରୋମାନ୍, ରୋମନ୍
roman in Nepali
रोमन, रोमानियन, रोमान

Examples of roman in a sentence

  • Roman and medieval football matches were more violent than any modern type of football.
  • Roman numerals is the system used on some clocks.
  • The parachute was on a slant in the air and threatened at any minute to roman candle.

All 26 example sentences with roman

Synonyms of roman

Antonyms

Forms of roman

Adjective
alternative formRoman
comparativemore Roman
superlativemost Roman
Noun
pluralromans
pluralRomans
Proper noun
pluralRomans

Origin of roman

From Roman.

From Old French Romain, from Latin Rōmānus. By surface analysis, Rom(e) + -an. Doublet of Romano. Displaced native Romish. * In reference to the Byzantine Empire, via the Byzantine Greek endonym Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos).

Words formed from roman

Phrases with roman

69 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with roman

Questions about roman

What does roman mean?
Roman means upright, as opposed to italic.
What is roman in Hindi?
Roman in Hindi is रोमन. See Roman meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is roman?
Roman can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce roman?
Roman is pronounced /ˈɹəʊmən/.

Words near roman in the dictionary

  1. romaleids
  2. Romalita
  3. romall
  4. romalls
  5. romals
  6. roman
  7. Roman alphabet
  8. Roman alphabets
  9. Roman alum
  10. Roman balance
  11. Roman balances

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: roman (page history and authors); Roman (page history and authors); roman (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); roman (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Roman.ogg.

Cite this entry: “roman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/roman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.