Roman has 12 different meanings across 3 categories:
Noun · Adjective · Proper Noun
a resident of modern Rome
"The new exhibition at the museum features artifacts collected directly from the homes of ancient romans living in the city center two thousand years ago."
an inhabitant of the ancient Roman Empire
"The museum curator explained that many artifacts in the exhibit were created by a skilled roman artisan living during Caesar's reign."
a typeface used in ancient Roman inscriptions
"The architect chose a roman font for the building's signage to evoke the style of ancient Roman inscriptions."
One of the main three types used for the Latin alphabet (the others being italics and blackletter), in which the ascenders are mostly straight.
"The ancient Roman often visited the bustling markets in the heart of the city."
A native or resident of Rome.
In plain English: A roman is a long story written in prose that usually follows the lives of real or fictional characters over time.
"She is reading a historical novel set in ancient Rome, but she also loves classical Roman architecture."
relating to or characteristic of people of Rome
"Roman virtues"
"his Roman bearing in adversity"
"a Roman nose"
characteristic of the modern type that most directly represents the type used in ancient Roman inscriptions
"The museum curator explained that while many fonts claim to be classical, only this particular style truly captures the sharp angles and uniform stroke width found on ancient Roman stone tablets."
of or relating to or supporting Romanism
"the Roman Catholic Church"
upright, as opposed to italic
"The travelers visited several ancient ruins to see their Roman heritage firsthand."
Of or from Rome.
In plain English: Roman means something that belongs to ancient Rome or is written in the Latin language.
"The roman font on the invitation looked elegant and classic."
Usage: Use roman to describe text that appears in standard upright letters rather than italics or other stylized fonts. This term is often confused with the noun referring to ancient Rome, but here it strictly denotes a specific typographic style.
A male given name from Latin recently borrowed from continental Europe.
"My new neighbor, Roman, introduced himself as a recent transplant from Berlin who had chosen his own name for its classic sound."
The word "roman" comes from Old French and Latin, originally referring to something related to the city of Rome or its people. Although it appears to be a simple combination of "Rome" and the suffix "-an," its usage in English also reflects historical connections to the Byzantine Empire through Greek.