In
typography,
small capitals (usually abbreviated
small caps) are
uppercase (
capital)
characters set at the same height and weight as surrounding
lowercase (
small) letters or
text figures. They are used in running text to prevent capitalized words from appearing too large on the page, and as a method of emphasis or distinctiveness for text alongside or instead of
italics, or when
boldface is inappropriate. For example, the
all-caps TEXT IN CAPS appears as in small caps. They can be used to draw attention to the opening phrase or line of a new section of text, or to provide an additional style in a dictionary entry where many parts must be typographically differentiated.