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importance

 - 2 dictionary results

im⋅por⋅tance

  [im-pawr-tns]
Use importance in a Sentence
–noun
1. the quality or state of being important; consequence; significance.
2. important position or standing; personal or social consequence.
3. consequential air or manner: an air of bustling importance.
4. Obsolete. an important matter.
5. Obsolete. importunity.
6. Obsolete. import or meaning.
Origin:
1495–1505; < ML importantia. See important, -ance

Synonyms:
1. moment, weight, concern. Importance, consequence, significance, moment all signify something valuable, influential, or worthy of note. Importance is the most general of these, assigning exceptional or notable value or influence to a person or thing: the importance of Einstein's discoveries. Consequence may suggest outstanding personal quality or position, or it may suggest importance because of results to be produced: a woman of consequence in world affairs; an event of great consequence for our future. Significance can be used interchangeably with importance or consequence, but it carries also the implication of importance that is not readily or immediately recognized: The significance of the discovery only became clear years later. Moment, on the other hand, almost always refers to immediately apparent, self-evident importance: a change of great moment for the nation's political system.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To importance
im·por·tance   (ĭm-pôr'tns)   
n.  

  1. The quality or condition of being important; significance.

  2. Personal status; standing.

  3. Obsolete An important matter.

  4. Obsolete Meaning; import.

  5. Obsolete Importunity.

Synonyms: These nouns refer to the state or quality of being significant, influential, or worthy of note or esteem. Importance is the most general term: the importance of a proper diet.
Consequence is especially applicable to persons or things of notable rank or position (scholars of consequence) and to what is important because of its possible outcome, result, or effect (tax laws of consequence to investors). Moment implies importance or consequence that is readily apparent: making decisions of great moment.
Significance and import refer to the quality of something, often not obvious, that gives it special meaning or value: an event of real significance; works of great social import.
Weight suggests a personal evaluation or judgment of importance: "The popular faction at Rome . . . was led by men of weight" (J.A. Froude).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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