significant
Use the adjective significant to describe something that is important. Your "significant other" means the person who's most important in your life. A significant result in a scientific study is a result large enough to matter.
A less common meaning of significant is to describe something that has a special or hidden meaning. A significant smile can convey feelings or information without words. This adjective is from Latin significans, from significare "to signify," from signum "a sign, mark" plus facere "to make."
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rich in significance or implication
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meaningful
having a meaning or purpose
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meaningful
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important in effect or meaning“a significant change in tax laws”“a significant change in the Constitution”“a significant contribution”“significant details”“statistically significant”
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synonyms:
important
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important, of import
of great significance or value
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meaningful
having a meaning or purpose
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momentous
of very great significance
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epoch-making, epochal
highly significant or important especially bringing about or marking the beginning of a new development or era
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earthshaking, world-shaking, world-shattering
sufficiently significant to affect the whole world
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evidential, evidentiary
serving as or based on evidence
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fundamental, profound
far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the nature of something
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large
fairly large or important in effect; influential
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monumental
of outstanding significance
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noteworthy, remarkable
worthy of notice
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probative, probatory
tending to prove a particular proposition or to persuade you of the truth of an allegation
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operative
effective; producing a desired effect
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portentous, prodigious
of momentous or ominous significance
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Antonyms:
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insignificant, unimportant
devoid of importance, meaning, or force
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unimportant
not important
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meaningless, nonmeaningful
having no meaning or direction or purpose
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hole-and-corner, hole-in-corner
relating to the peripheral and unimportant aspects of life
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flimsy, fragile, slight, tenuous, thin
lacking substance or significance
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inappreciable
too small to make a significant difference
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light
having little importance
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superficial, trivial
of little substance or significance
- show more antonyms...
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important, of import
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fairly large
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synonyms:
substantial
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considerable
large or relatively large in number or amount or extent or degree
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considerable
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too closely correlated to be attributed to chance and therefore indicating a systematic relation“the interaction effect is significant at the .01 level”“no significant difference was found”
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Antonyms:
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nonsignificant
attributable to chance
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nonsignificant
/sɪgˈnɪfɪkənt/
/sɪgˈnɪfɪkənt/
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Copy citationVocabulary lists containing significant
In this first book of the mystery series, seventh-grader Samantha Jo Keyes looks through her binoculars and sees a burglary at the Heavenly Hotel.
In this first book of the Samurai Detective series set in 18th-century Japan, Konoike Seikei, a tea merchant’s son dreaming of becoming a noble warrior-poet, helps a judge solve the mystery of a missing jewel.
In this essay, the award-winning author of Bless Me, Ultima shares his thoughts on how descriptions of different cultures are often censored to appeal to mainstream publishers and readers.
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