significance
Other forms: significances
Significance means having the quality of being "significant" — meaningful, important. It also refers to the meaning of something. A certain date might have significance because it's your birthday or the anniversary of Princess Di's wedding.
Significance starts with the word sign for a reason. An item's significance is a sign of its importance. The significance of something can be implicit or explicit — meaning it can be clear or only known with a deeper understanding of the situation. Your perfect score on the Calculus exam might have added significance for people who know that you never even opened your textbook to study.
Definitions of significance
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the quality of being significant“do not underestimate the significance of nuclear power”
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Antonyms:
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insignificance
the quality of having little or no significance
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types:
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historicalness
significance owing to its history
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meaningfulness
the quality of having great value or significance
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consequence, import, moment
having important effects or influence
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matter
(used with negation) having consequence
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purposefulness, sense of purpose
the quality of having a definite purpose
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hell to pay
dire consequences
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type of:
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importance
the quality of being important and worthy of note
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insignificance
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the message that is intended or expressed or signified“the significance of a red traffic light”
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synonyms:
import, meaning, signification
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types:
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lexical meaning
the meaning of a content word that depends on the nonlinguistic concepts it is used to express
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grammatical meaning
the meaning of a word that depends on its role in a sentence; varies with inflectional form
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symbolisation, symbolization
the use of symbols to convey meaning
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sense, signified
the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted
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connotation, intension
what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression
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referent
something referred to; the object of a reference
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burden, core, effect, essence, gist
the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
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intent, purport, spirit
the intended meaning of a communication
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lesson, moral
the significance of a story or event
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nicety, nuance, refinement, shade, subtlety
a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
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overtone
(usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning or quality
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point
a brief version of the essential meaning of something
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acceptation, word meaning, word sense
the accepted meaning of a word
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antecedent
the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronoun
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denotatum
an actual object referred to by a linguistic expression
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designatum
something (whether existing or not) that is referred to by a linguistic expression
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bottom line
the decisive point
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crux, crux of the matter
the most important point
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rallying point
a point or principle on which scattered or opposing groups can come together
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talking point
an especially persuasive point helping to support an argument or discussion
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type of:
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content, message, subject matter, substance
what a communication that is about something is about
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a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred“the significance of his remark became clear only later”
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synonyms:
implication, import, subtext
Pronunciation
US
/sɪgˈnɪfɪkəns/
UK
/sɪgˈnɪfɪkəns/
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘significance'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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