Adjacent Words

Importance definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMPORT'ANCE, n.
1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.
2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.
Thy own importance know.
Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.
3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.
He believes himself a man of importance.
4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of being important and worthy of note; "the importance of a well-balanced diet" [ant: unimportance]
2: a prominent status; "a person of importance" [syn: importance, grandness]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1508 1. a. the quality or state of being important ; consequence b. an important aspect or bearing ; significance 2. obsolete import, meaning 3. obsolete importunity 4. obsolete a weighty matter Synonyms: importance, consequence, moment, weight, significance mean a quality or aspect having great worth or significance. importance implies a value judgment of the superior worth or influence of something or someone <a region with no cities of importance>. consequence generally implies importance because of probable or possible effects <the style you choose is of little consequence>. moment implies conspicuous or self-evident consequence <a decision of great moment>. weight implies a judgment of the immediate relative importance of something <the argument carried no weight with the judge>. significance implies a quality or character that should mark a thing as important but that is not self-evident and may or may not be recognized <the treaty's significance>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the state of being important. 2 weight, significance. 3 personal consequence; dignity. Etymology: F f. med.L importantia (as IMPORT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Importance Im*por"tance, n. [F. importance. See Important.] 1. The quality or state of being important; consequence; weight; moment; significance. Thy own importance know, Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. --Pope. 2. Subject; matter. [Obs.] Upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature. --Shak. 3. Import; meaning; significance. [Obs.] The wisest beholder could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow. --Shak. 4. Importunity; solicitation. [Obs.] At our importance hither is he come. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. The importance of something is its quality of being significant, valued, or necessary in a particular situation. We have always stressed the importance of economic reform... Safety is of paramount importance. N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n 2. Importance means having influence, power, or status.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Consequence, weight, weightiness, moment, momentousness, significance, import, concern. 2. Self-importance, consequence, pomposity.

Moby Thesaurus

account, ascendancy, authority, charisma, charm, clout, concern, consequence, conspicuousness, control, credit, distinction, dominance, domination, effect, elevation, eminence, enchantment, esteem, exaltation, excellence, favor, force, good feeling, grandeur, gravity, greatness, high mightiness, hold, import, incidental power, influence, influentiality, influentialness, insinuation, leadership, leverage, loftiness, magnetism, magnitude, mark, mastery, matter, moment, momentousness, nobility, notability, note, noteworthiness, outstandingness, personality, persuasion, pith, position, potency, power, precedence, predominance, preponderance, pressure, prestige, priority, prominence, purchase, rank, reign, reputation, repute, rule, salience, say, seniority, seriousness, significance, signification, standing, stature, status, suasion, sublimity, substance, subtle influence, suggestion, supereminence, supremacy, sway, upper hand, value, weight, weightiness, whip hand, worth, worthiness