Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The state or quality of being significant. See Synonyms at importance.
- n. A meaning that is expressed.
- n. A covert or implied meaning. See Synonyms at meaning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. That which, is signified; purport; covert sense; real or implied meaning; that which may be inferred in regard to any state of things from any circumstance: as, the significance of a metaphor, of a chance remark, of a look, of behavior.
- n. Importance; move strictly, importance as significative of something interesting, but also, frequently, importance as affecting considerable interests: as, the great significance of many small things.
- n. The character of being significant; force of meaning; distinct signification; expressiveness. Synonyms Significance, Signification, Meaning, Meaning is the most general; it may apply to persons, but not the other words: as, what was his meaning? Signification is closer than significance; significance is especially the quality of signifying something, while signification is generally that which is signified: as, he attached a great deal of significance to this fact; what is the signification of D. C. L.?
Wiktionary
- n. The extent to which something matters; importance
- n. Meaning.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The quality or state of being significant.
- n. That which is signified; meaning; import.
- n. Importance; moment; weight; consequence.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the message that is intended or expressed or signified
- n. the quality of being significant
- n. a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
Etymologies
- From Latin significantia. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In scholarly writing, the term significance refers to a very specialized statistical feature known in most fields as statistical significance.”
“I love contemplative first person narratives, in which nothing happens and yet everything of significance is profoundly altered.”
“One way you could cue the readers to its significance is to overdo the style in a caricaturish way.”
“The death of Osama bin Laden may or may not have great long-term significance, but there is no denying its immediate impact.”
The Wall Street Journal: Europe Needs a Spirit-Lifting Victory
“That may be the longer-term significance of yesterday's initiative – and in time it will have to involve Mr Clegg as well.”
“Cannadine suggests: "In its length, its range, its importance, its accomplishments and its long-term significance, Andrew Mellon's was one of the biggest American lives of its times.”
“The easiest way to prevent statistical significance is by using a pathetically small number of subjects in your experiment.”
The Huffington Post: Jeffrey Smith: GE Salmon? Are You Out of Your Minds?!
“The temptation to view sports events as symbolizing matters of larger significance is too infrequently resisted, but the second Louis-Schmeling fight merits the distinction.”
“That, too, alters in significance with shifts in Brian Engel's savvy lighting.”
The Washington Post: Forum Theatre's 'Scorched': Rambling play acted with admirable force
“The bigger significance is that these are baby attacks," he says.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘significance’.
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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SCIE - statistics
Abbe-Helmert crit..., a priori probability, alphabet, total correlation, three-dimensional..., theoretical frequ..., time reversal test, three-series theorem, theoretical variable, tetrachoric corre..., absolutely unbias..., absolute error and 4171 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Manifestation
exhibition, corporeal, display, revelation, appearance, disclosure, manifestation, phenomenon, symptom, aspect, impulse, indication and 8 more...
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Holli
Cancer, Mercury, water, moon, dark, emotion, nostalgia, angst, brooding, isolation, shadow, corner and 145 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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Spam Names
Interesting words that came to me in spam emails in the "From" field. Read in pairs by order added, add the initial of your choice, and you'll get a list of "names."
menominee, burbled, abrasives, barrister, unfortunates, strolls, appareled, uncles, removal, elusive, significance, described and 180 more...
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arnon's Words
treatise, enthrall, nimble, hinder, serene, transhumanism, meliorism, denote, apropos, equivalence, valence, orthogonal and 156 more...
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The Circle of Bash revels in . . .
vibes, boldness, significance, discipline, logic, fortitude, greatness, ripcord, mayhem, bashing, divination, voodoo and 38 more...
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benjfrank's Words
phantasmagoria, mellifluous, serendipity, hoosegow, luminosity, syzygy, microscopy, the, animate, nutmeg, alabaster, cranium and 18 more...
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preface
occasion, impulsively, fortunately, nonetheless, scurrying, announced, particularly, handsome, immediately, witty, striking, famous and 29 more...
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Year 7 key words
Words that will help you understand History in Year 7 much, much better!
continuity, progress, Roman, Saxon, Viking, Norman, invader, evidence, chronology, century, decade, AD and 5 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for significance.
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