/ English Dictionary |
UPPERCASE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
One of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis
Example:
printers once kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and so became known as upper-case letters
Synonyms:
capital; capital letter; majuscule; upper-case letter; uppercase
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("uppercase" is a kind of...):
character; graph; grapheme; graphic symbol (a written symbol that is used to represent speech)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "uppercase"):
small cap; small capital (a character having the form of an upper-case letter but the same height as lower-case letters)
Antonym:
lowercase (the characters that were once kept in bottom half of a compositor's type case)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Relating to capital letters which were kept in the top half of a compositor's type case
Example:
uppercase letters; X and Y and Z etc
Classified under:
Similar:
capital; great; majuscule (uppercase)
Also:
majuscule (of or relating to a style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; 4th to 8th centuries)
Antonym:
lowercase (relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case)