Home / Dictionary / Font

Font Very Common

Font has 8 different meanings across 2 categories:

Noun · Proper Noun

Definitions
Noun
1

a specific size and style of type within a type family

"She spent hours tweaking the font until the headings matched the elegant serif style she wanted for her book cover."

2

bowl for baptismal water

"The priest poured the holy water into the silver font before welcoming the new baby into the church."

3

A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.

"The ancient library served as a font of knowledge for generations of scholars who came to study there."

4

A set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (e.g., Helvetica), style (e.g., italic), and weight (e.g., bold). Usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters.

5

In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.

6

A source, wellspring, fount.

In plain English: A font is a specific set of letters and numbers that share the same style and size when you type them out.

"The teacher asked students to change the font in their essays to make them easier to read."

Usage: In everyday modern English, "font" refers to a specific style or typeface of letters used in printing and digital design. While it can technically mean a source or spring, you should almost always use the word "source" instead when referring to an origin or wellspring.

Verb
1

To overlay (text) on the picture.

"The designer decided to add a bold font over the sunset photo to highlight her company's name."

In plain English: To font means to make something into a specific shape or style, though this usage is very rare and mostly found in old texts.

"The printer will not print until you set the font size to a larger number."

Usage: Do not use "font" as a verb to mean overlaying text on an image; instead, use the correct terms such as "overlay," "superimpose," or "caption." The word "font" is strictly a noun referring to a specific style of typeface.

Proper Noun
1

The town of Fontainebleau

"The tourists gathered at the entrance to the famous French resort town of Fontainebleau before their guided tour began."

Example Sentences
"The teacher asked students to change the font in their essays to make them easier to read." noun
"The teacher changed the font to make the reading material easier for young children." noun
"He selected a bold font for his wedding invitation to give it an elegant look." noun
"The old sign fell apart because someone used too thick of a font on the metal plate." noun
"The printer will not print until you set the font size to a larger number." verb
Related Terms
Broader Terms (hypernyms)
Narrower Terms (hyponyms)

Origin

The word comes from the Old English font, which was borrowed directly from the Latin fons meaning "fountain." It entered English usage to describe a large basin for holy water or baptism.

Rhyming Words
Compare
Font vs