IMPORTANT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does important mean? 

• IMPORTANT (adjective)
  The adjective IMPORTANT has 5 senses:

1. of great significance or value

2. important in effect or meaning

3. of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis

4. having authority or ascendancy or influence

5. having or suggesting a consciousness of high position

  Familiarity information: IMPORTANT used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPORTANT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of great significance or value

Synonyms:

important; of import

Context example:

the important questions of the day

Similar:

in-chief (indicating the head of a staff)

strategic (highly important to or an integral part of a strategy or plan of action especially in war)

serious (of great consequence)

most-valuable (designating the player judged to be the most important to the sport)

measurable (of distinguished importance)

historic (important in history)

great; outstanding (of major significance or importance)

grave; grievous; heavy; weighty (of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought)

grand (the most important and magnificent in adornment)

distinguished ((used of persons) standing above others in character or attainment or reputation)

consequential; eventful (having important issues or results)

chief; main; master; primary; principal (most important element)

cardinal; central; fundamental; key; primal (serving as an essential component)

burning (of immediate import)

big (significant)

beta (second in order of importance)

alpha (first in order of importance)

all-important; all important; crucial; essential; of the essence (of the greatest importance)

Copernican (of radical or major importance)

Also:

essential (basic and fundamental)

important; significant (important in effect or meaning)

valuable (having great material or monetary value especially for use or exchange)

Attribute:

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Antonym:

unimportant (not important)

Derivation:

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Important in effect or meaning

Synonyms:

important; significant

Context example:

statistically significant

Similar:

momentous (of very great significance)

epoch-making; epochal (highly significant or important especially bringing about or marking the beginning of a new development or era)

earthshaking; world-shaking; world-shattering (sufficiently significant to affect the whole world)

evidential; evidentiary (serving as or based on evidence)

fundamental; profound (far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the nature of something)

large (fairly large or important in effect; influential)

monumental (of outstanding significance)

notable; noteworthy; remarkable (worthy of attention because interesting, significant, or unusual)

probative; probatory (tending to prove a particular proposition or to persuade you of the truth of an allegation)

operative (effective; producing a desired effect)

portentous; prodigious (of momentous or ominous significance)

Also:

important; of import (of great significance or value)

meaningful (having a meaning or purpose)

Attribute:

significance (the quality of being significant)

Derivation:

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis

Synonyms:

crucial; important

Context example:

a crucial issue for women

Similar:

critical; decisive (forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis)

life-and-death; life-or-death (vitally important)

pivotal; polar (being of crucial importance)

Also:

decisive (determining or having the power to determine an outcome)

essential (basic and fundamental)

critical (being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency)

Derivation:

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Having authority or ascendancy or influence

Synonyms:

authoritative; important

Context example:

the captain's authoritative manner

Similar:

influential (having or exercising influence or power)

Derivation:

importance (a prominent status)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Having or suggesting a consciousness of high position

Context example:

took long important strides in the direction of his office

Similar:

immodest (having or showing an exaggerated opinion of your importance, ability, etc)

 Context examples 

Murdstone and Grinby's trade was among a good many kinds of people, but an important branch of it was the supply of wines and spirits to certain packet ships.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This kind of applied research is very important for making remote sensing data relevant to wildlife management efforts.

(Tracking Deer by NASA Satellite, NASA)

The planets will all be in place during the week between December 25 and January 1, so that week might turn out to be the most important for your career in over a decade.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

One of the most important findings of their study, the authors say, is that there is no one-size-fits-all explanation for what structures mammal biodiversity across the world.

(Connecting the prehistoric past to the global future, National Science Foundation)

Sleep is important for biological recovery and takes around a third of our lifetime, but in modern society more and more people complain of insomnia.

(Insomnia: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Jo couldn't help smiling at the important air which Meg had unconsciously assumed and which was as becoming as the pretty color varying in her cheeks.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Corn is grown not only for food; it is also used as an important renewable energy source.

(Corn better used as food than biofuel, National Science Foundation)

This new insight into how nerve cells might die from self-digestion has important implications for therapeutic approaches targeting autophagy.

(New Mechanisms Found of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It was here, while we crossed the first of these hills, that an incident occurred which may or may not have been important.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Among the latter, diet is the most important.

(International Research Team Finds Correlation Between Genetics and Obesity Is Modified by Diet, U.S. Department of Agriculture)