important

See also: împortant

English

Etymology

From Middle English important, from Medieval Latin important-, importāns. By surface analysis, import (“to be important”) +‎ -ant.

Displaced native Old English heah and hefig.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔː.tənt/, [ɪmˈpʰɔːʔn̩ʔ], [ɪmˈpʰɔːtənt̚]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt/, [ɪmˈpʰɔɹʔn̩t], [ɪmˈpʰɔɹʔn̩ʔ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpo(ː)ɹ.tənt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpoə.tənt/
• (US, T-Flapping) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt/

Adjective

important (comparative more important or (uncommon) importanter, superlative most important or (uncommon) importantest)

2. Having relevant and crucial value; having import.

   It is very important to give your daughter independence in her life so she learns from experience.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between. His clerks, however, understood him very well.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

   • 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son:

     For this was the most important thing, that when a person felt strongly about an issue in life, it mustn’t be ignored by others; for if it was, everything subsequent to it would turn out badly, even though there should seem to be no direct connection.

   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

3. (obsolete) Pompous; self-important.
   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 206:

     " […] It is a match that must give universal satisfaction. In short, it is a kind of thing that"—lowering his voice to an important whisper—"will be exceedingly welcome to all parties." Recollecting himself, however, he added, "That is, I mean to say—your friends are all truly anxious to see you well settled; Fanny particularly […] "

Synonyms

• significant
• weighty
• See also Thesaurus:important

Antonyms

• negligible
• ignorable
• petty
• slight
• unimportant

Derived terms

• all-important
• important bird area
• importantly
• importantness
• more important fish to fry
• unimportant
• very important person
• VIP

 

Related terms

• import
• importance

Translations

having relevant and crucial value

Afrikaans: belangrik (af) Albanian: rëndësishëm (sq) Arabic: مُهِمّ (muhimm) Egyptian Arabic: مهم m (muhimm) Hijazi Arabic: مُهِم (muhimm) Aragonese: important Aramaic: חסינא m (ħasīna) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܵܢܲܢܩܵܝܵܐ m (ānanqāyā), ܐܵܠܨܵܝܵܐ m (ālṣāyā) Armenian: կարեւոր (hy) (karewor) Asturian: importante Azerbaijani: mühüm (az), vacib (az), önəmli, əhəmiyyətli (az) Balinese: mabuat, gati Bashkir: мөһим (möhim) Basque: garrantzitsu Belarusian: ва́жны (vážny) Bengali: গুরুত্বপূর্ণ (bn) (guruttopurno) Bulgarian: ва́жен (bg) (vážen) Burmese: အရေးကြီး (my) (a.re:kri:) Catalan: important (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 緊要 / 紧要 (gan2 jiu3) Hokkien: 重要 (zh-min-nan) (tiōng-iàu), 要緊 / 要紧 (zh-min-nan) (iàu-kín) Mandarin: 重要 (zh) (zhòngyào) Czech: důležitý (cs) Danish: vigtig (da) Dutch: belangrijk (nl) Egyptian: (wr) Esperanto: grava (eo) Estonian: tähtis (et), oluline (et) Extremaduran: emportanti Faroese: umráðandi Finnish: tärkeä (fi) French: important (fr) Galician: importante (gl) Georgian: მნიშვნელოვანი (mnišvnelovani) German: wichtig (de) Greek: σημαντικός (el) (simantikós) Haitian Creole: enpòtan Hebrew: חָשׁוּב (he) (khashúv) Hindi: महत्वपूर्ण (mahatvapūrṇ), अहम (aham), ज़रूरी (zarūrī) Hungarian: fontos (hu) Icelandic: mikilvægur (is) Ido: importanta (io) Indonesian: penting (id) Ingrian: vaažnoi Interlingua: importante Irish: tábhachtach, mórluachach Italian: importante (it) Japanese: 重要 (ja) (jūyō), 大切 (ja) (taisetsu) Kannada: ಮುಖ್ಯ (kn) (mukhya) Kazakh: маңызды (mañyzdy) Khmer: សំខាន់ (km) (somkən) Korean: 중요하다 (ko) (jung'yohada) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: گرنگ (ckb) (gring) Northern Kurdish: giring (ku), fer (ku) Kyrgyz: маанилүү (ky) (maanilüü), олуттуу (oluttuu) Lao: ສຳຄັນ (sam khan) Latin: gravis (la), magnus (la) Latvian: svarīgs, nozīmīgs Lithuanian: svarbus (lt) Louisiana Creole French: importan, gro Luxembourgish: wichteg (lb) Macedonian: ва́жен (vážen), зна́чаен (znáčaen) Malay: penting (ms) Malayalam: അതിപ്രധാനമായ (atipradhānamāya), മുഖ്യമായ (mukhyamāya), ഗൗരവമുള്ള (gauravamuḷḷa), ഉയർന്ന പദവിയിലുള്ള (uyaṟnna padaviyiluḷḷa) Maltese: importanti Maori: tiketike, matua, hira, mātuatua, pūwhero (of the rank of a person), pūwhewhero (of the rank of a person) Mirandese: amportante Mongolian: чухал (mn) (čuxal) Navajo: tsʼídá bíhólníihgo Nepali: महत्वपूर्ण (mahatvapūrṇa) Norman: împortant Norwegian: alvorlig (no), betydelig (no), viktig (no) Occitan: important (oc) Odia: ଗୁରୁତ୍ବପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ (gurutbapurṇṇa) Old English: hefiġ Pannonian Rusyn: важни (važni), значни (značni) Persian: مهم (fa) (mohemm) Plautdietsch: wichtich Polish: ważny (pl) m Portuguese: importante (pt) Punjabi: ਮਹੱਤਵਪੂਰਨ (mahattavpūran) Romanian: important (ro) Russian: ва́жный (ru) (vážnyj), зна́чимый (ru) (znáčimyj) Samoan: tāua Sanskrit: गुरु (sa) (guru), अत्यावश्यक (atyāvaśyaka) Scottish Gaelic: cudromach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: важан Roman: važan (sh) Sinhalese: වැදගත් (si) (wædagat) Slovak: dôležitý (sk) Slovene: pomémben, važen Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: wažny Upper Sorbian: wažny Spanish: importante (es) Swahili: muhimu (sw) Swedish: viktig (sv), betydelsefull (sv) Tagalog: mahalagá Tajik: муҳим (muhim) Tamil: முக்கியம் (ta) (mukkiyam), பிரதானம் (ta) (piratāṉam), பாரதூரம் (ta) (pāratūram) Telugu: ముఖ్యమైన (te) (mukhyamaina) Tetum: importante Thai: สำคัญ (th) (sǎm-kan), เอ้ (th) (ây) Tibetan: གལ་ཆེན་པོ (gal chen po) Tongan: mahuʻinga Turkish: önemli (tr), mühim (tr) Turkmen: dahylly, möhüm Ukrainian: важли́вий (uk) (važlývyj), значни́й (značnýj), важни́й (uk) (važnýj) Urdu: اہم (aham) Uzbek: muhim (uz) Vietnamese: quan trọng (vi), trọng yếu (vi) Volapük: veütik (vo) Walloon: impôrtant (wa), consecant (wa) Welsh: pwysig (cy) West Frisian: wichtich Yiddish: וויכטיק (vikhtik), חשובֿ (khoshev) Zazaki: mihim

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bengali: (please verify) দরকারী (bn) (dorkari) Tamil: (please verify) பாரதூரம் (ta) (pāratūram)

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [im.purˈtan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [im.porˈtant]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [im.poɾˈtant]

• Audio (Central):

  (file)

Adjective

important m or f (masculine and feminine plural importants)

1. important

Derived terms

• importantment

Related terms

• importància

Further reading

• “important” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “important”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “important” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “important” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology 2

Verb

important

1. gerund of importar

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃/, (in liaison) /ɛ̃.pɔʁ.tɑ̃.t‿/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧por‧tant

Adjective

important (feminine importante, masculine plural importants, feminine plural importantes)

1. important

   Il est important de se brosser les dents.

   It is important to brush your teeth.

2. large, considerable, significant

   Synonyms: grand, gros, considérable

   Une partie importante des votes

   A significant number of the votes

   Une tempête de neige est un phénomène météorologique produit par une dépression météorologique hivernale importante.

   A snowstorm is a meteorological phenomenon produced by a large winter depression.

Derived terms

• importamment
• importance
• importantissime

 

Participle

important

1. present participle of importer

Further reading

• “important”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

important

1. third-person plural present active indicative of importō

Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Adjective

important m (feminine singular importanta, masculine plural importants, feminine plural importantas)

1. important

Related terms

• importància

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French important.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [im.porˈtant]

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

important m or n (feminine singular importantă, masculine plural importanți, feminine and neuter plural importante)

1. important

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	important		importantă		importanți	importante
	definite	importantul		importanta		importanții	importantele
genitive- dative	indefinite	important		importante		importanți	importante
	definite	importantului		importantei		importanților	importantilor

Related terms

• importanță