Standard Lemma guide

lowercase

adj · noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈloʊ.ɚˌkeɪs/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • UK: /ˌləʊ.ə(ɹ)ˈkeɪs/
  • UK: /ˈləʊ.ə(ɹ)ˌkeɪs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

In lower case.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Alternative form of lower case.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To convert (text) to lower case.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • lowercase letters; a and b and c etc

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: uppercase

5

noun

Meaning 5

the characters that were once kept in bottom half of a compositor's type case

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: small letter, lower-case letter, minuscule

Antonyms: uppercase

Broader terms: character, grapheme, graphic symbol

History

Etymology

From the noun phrase lower case, which itself consists of an adjective modifying a noun; when used as a noun adjunct then, to render its syntactical function clearer and simpler, it is written as a single word or with a hyphen as a sort of chunking.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: փոքրատառ (pʻokʻrataṙ) — in lower case
  • Dutch: in kleine letters — in lower case
  • Dutch: kleingeschreven — in lower case
  • Dutch: onderkast — in lower case
  • Finnish: pienillä kirjaimilla kirjoitettu — in lower case
  • French: minuscule — in lower case
  • Georgian: ქვედა რეგისტრის (kveda regisṭris) — in lower case
  • German: kleingeschrieben — in lower case
  • German: klein — in lower case
  • Greek: μικρά γράμματα (mikrá grámmata) — in lower case
  • Hungarian: kisbetűs — in lower case
  • Hungarian: kurrens — in lower case
  • Indonesian: kapitil — in lower case
  • Indonesian: onderkas — in lower case
  • Indonesian: nonkapital — in lower case
  • Italian: minuscolo — in lower case
  • Portuguese: minúsculo — in lower case
  • Russian: стро́чный (stróčnyj) — in lower case
  • Russian: ма́ленький (málenʹkij) — in lower case
  • Spanish: de caja baja — in lower case
  • Tagalog: minuskula — in lower case
  • Tagalog: kaha-baha — in lower case
  • Welsh: bach — in lower case
  • French: minusculiser — To convert (text) to lower case.
Real reading context

lowercase in complete knowledge articles