importance

im·por·tance

(ĭm-pôr′tns)

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

2. Personal status; standing: people of great importance.

3. Obsolete Meaning; import.

4. Obsolete Importunity.

Synonyms: importance, consequence, significance, import, weight
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). Significance and import refer to the quality of something that gives it special meaning or value: an event of real significance; works of great social import. Weight suggests seriousness or authority: "The popular faction at Rome ... was led by men of weight" (J.A. Froude).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

importance

(ɪmˈpɔːtəns)

1. the state of being important; significance

2. social status; standing; esteem: a man of importance.

3. obsolete

a. meaning or signification

b. an important matter

c. importunity

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

im•por•tance

(ɪmˈpɔr tns)

n.

1. the quality or state of being important; significance.

2. Obs. an important matter.

3. Obs. importunity.

4. Obs. import; meaning.

syn: importance, consequence, significance, moment refer to something valuable, influential, or worthy of note. importance is the most general of these terms, assigning exceptional value or influence to a person or thing: the importance of Einstein's discoveries. consequence may suggest personal distinction, or may suggest importance based on results to be produced: a woman of consequence in world affairs; an event of great consequence for our future. significance carries the implication of importance not readily or immediately recognized: The significance of the discovery became clear many years later. moment, on the other hand, usu. refers to immediately apparent, self-evident importance: an international treaty of great moment.

Importance/Unimportance

See Also: MEMORY, NECESSITY

Brittle and meaningless as cocktail party patter —William Brammer
His influence … it is like burning a … candle at Dover to show light at Calais —Samuel Johnson
Had Johnson been an American living in America instead of an Englishman living in England, his comment on Thomas Sheridan’s influence on English literature might well have illustrated with “A candle in New York to show light in Boston.”
Hollow as the (ghastly) amiabilities of a college reunion —Raymond M. Weaver
Impact [of information] … as thin as gold —Raymond Chandler
(About as) important as a game of golf to an astronomer —Anon
Important as mathematics to an engineer —Anon
Inconsequential … like the busy work that grade school teachers devise to keep children out of mischief —Ann Petry
Insignifacnt as the canals of Mars —Frank Conroy
Its loss would be incalculable … like losing the Mona Lisa —Dr. Paul Parks, New York Times, August 23, 1986 on potential death of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee
Meaningful as love —Kenneth Patchen
Meaningless, like publishing a book of your opinions with a vanity press —Scott Spencer
Of no more importance than a flea or a louse —Boris Pasternak
In the novel, Doctor Zhivago, a character uses this simile to compare a wife to workers.
Seemed scarcely to concern us, like fairy tales or cautionary fables that are not to be taken literally or to heart —Joan Chase
Shallow as a pie pan —Anon
[A speech] shallow as time —Thomas Carlyle
Uneventful as theory —A. R. Ammons
Worthless as withered weeds —Emily Bronte

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	importance - the quality of being important and worthy of note; "the importance of a well-balanced diet" value - the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable; "the Shakespearean Shylock is of dubious value in the modern world" big deal - anything of great importance or consequence magnitude - relative importance; "a problem of the first magnitude" account - importance or value; "a person of considerable account"; "he predicted that although it is of small account now it will rapidly increase in importance" momentousness - utmost importance prominence - relative importance greatness, illustriousness - the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence significance - the quality of being significant; "do not underestimate the significance of nuclear power" essentiality, essentialness - basic importance urgency - pressing importance requiring speedy action; "the urgency of his need" weightiness, weight - the relative importance granted to something; "his opinion carries great weight"; "the progression implied an increasing weightiness of the items listed" unimportance - the quality of not being important or worthy of note
	2.	importance - a prominent status; "a person of importance" grandness standing - social or financial or professional status or reputation; "of equal standing"; "a member in good standing" emphasis, accent - special importance or significance; "the red light gave the central figure increased emphasis"; "the room was decorated in shades of grey with distinctive red accents" primacy - the state of being first in importance

importance

noun

1. significance, interest, concern, matter, moment, value, worth, weight, import, consequence, substance, relevance, usefulness, momentousness Safety is of paramount importance.

2. prestige, standing, status, rule, authority, influence, distinction, esteem, prominence, supremacy, mastery, dominion, eminence, ascendancy, pre-eminence, mana (N.Z.) He was too puffed up with his own importance to accept the verdict.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

importance

noun

The quality or state of being important:

concern, concernment, consequence, import, moment, significance, significancy, weight, weightiness.

Translations

أَهَمِّيَةٌأهَميَّهاهمية

důležitost

vigtighed

Wichtigkeit Bedeutung Belang

σημασία σπουδαιότητα

importancia peso significado

tähtsus

tärkeys

importance intérêt

važnostznačajznačenje

mikilvægi

importanza rilevanza seriamente importante

重要性

중요성

pomembnost

vikt

ความสำคัญ

önem

tầm quan trọng

重要性

importance

[ɪmˈpɔːtəns] N → importancia f
to be of great/little importance → ser de gran/escasa importancia, tener mucha/poca importancia
to attach great importance to sth → conceder or dar mucha importancia a algo
to be of no importance → carecer de importancia, no tener importancia
to be full of one's own importance → darse ínfulas, creerse muy importante
to be of some importance → ser de cierta importancia, tener cierta importancia

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

importance

[ɪmˈpɔː^rt^əns] n → importance f
to be of great importance → avoir beaucoup d'importance
to be of great importance to sb → compter beaucoup pour qn
to be of little importance → avoir peu d'importance
a man of some importance → un homme qui compte
someone of importance
Was he related to anyone of importance? → Avait-il une parenté avec une personne importante?

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

importance

n → Wichtigkeit f; (= significance also) → Bedeutung f; (= influence also) → Einfluss m; I don’t see the importance of this → ich verstehe nicht, warum das wichtig sein soll; to be of great importance → äußerst wichtig sein; to be of no (great) importance → nicht (besonders) wichtig sein; to be without importance → unwichtig sein; to attach the greatest importance to something → einer Sache (dat) → größten Wert or größte Wichtigkeit beimessen; a man of importance → ein wichtiger or einflussreicher Mann; to be full of one’s own importance → ganz von seiner eigenen Wichtigkeit erfüllt sein

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

importance

[ɪmˈpɔːt/əns] n → importanza
to attach great importance to sth → dare or attribuire molta importanza a qc
to be of great/little importance → essere molto/poco importante

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

important

(imˈpoːtənt) adjective

(negative unimportant) having great value, influence or effect. an important book/person/occasion; It is important that you arrive here on time.

imˈportantly adverb

imˈportance noun

matters of great importance.

importance

→ أَهَمِّيَةٌ důležitost vigtighed Wichtigkeit σημασία importancia tärkeys importance važnost importanza 重要性 중요성 belangrijkheid betydning znaczenie importância важность vikt ความสำคัญ önem tầm quan trọng 重要性

importance

n. importancia.

References in classic literature ?

Under Thought is included every effect which has to be produced by speech, the subdivisions being,-- proof and refutation; the excitation of the feelings, such as pity, fear, anger, and the like; the suggestion of importance or its opposite.

View in context

Two or three people, your husband among them, understand all the importance of the thing, but the others simply drag it down.

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The paramount importance of these considerations in explaining the immense amount of variation which pigeons have undergone, will be obvious when we treat of Selection.

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There was no hospital or town of any importance nearer."

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"One must begin with grandeur, paint everything expressed, soften the shades of those which are of least importance, collect all into one point of view, and carry the reader thither with a rapid flight."

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The word SIXTY was emphasized in a way to show the importance that was attached to PRICE--that being a test of more than common importance with the present customer.

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Anna Mikhaylovna, with an air of importance that showed that she felt she quite knew what she was about, went across the room to where Pierre was standing and gave him a taper.

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For in the most insignificant words of men of political importance their friends and their opponents always endeavour to detect, and hence think they can interpret, something of their true thoughts.

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Mosey was too resolutely bent on asserting her own importance, by making the most of the alarm that she had suffered, to be repressed by any ordinary method of remonstrance.

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"Oh, that is of no importance, really," replied the Rich Woman, with a cheerful smile.

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I have many friends in America, I feel a grateful interest in the country, I hope and believe it will successfully work out a problem of the highest importance to the whole human race.

View in context

That consideration naturally tends to create great respect for the high opinion which the people of America have so long and uniformly entertained of the importance of their continuing firmly united under one federal government, vested with sufficient powers for all general and national purposes.