important

See also:împortant

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishimportant,fromMedieval Latinimportant-, importāns.

Displaced nativeOld Englishheahandhefig.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio(US):

  (file)

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

Adjective

important(comparativemoreimportantor(uncommon)importanter,superlativemostimportantor(uncommon)importantest)

2. Havingrelevantandcrucialvalue; havingimport.

   It is veryimportantto give your daughter independence in her life so she learns from experience.

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

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed theimportantwords 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”, inThe China Governess: A Mystery,London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC,page249:

     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 alwaysimportantsince 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 mostimportantthing, 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.

   • 2013May-June,Katrina G. Claw,“Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”,inAmerican Scientist,volume101,number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays animportantrole 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, inSense and Sensibility[…],volume I, London:[…]C[harles]Roworth,[…],and published byT[homas]Egerton,[…],→OCLC,page206:

     "[…]It is a match that must give universal satisfaction. In short, it is a kind of thing that "—lowering his voice to animportantwhisper— "will be exceedingly welcome toall 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 alsoThesaurus: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:مهمm(muhimm)

  Hijazi Arabic:مُهِم(muhimm)

• Aragonese:important
• Aramaic:חסינאm(ħasīna)

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:ܐܵܢܲܢܩܵܝܵܐm(ānanqāyā),ܐܵܠܨܵܝܵܐm(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:Mấu chốt／Mấu chốt(gan²jiu³)

  Hokkien:Quan trọng(zh-min-nan)(tiōng-iàu),Quan trọng／Quan trọng(zh-min-nan)(iàu-kín)

  Mandarin:Quan trọng(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)
• Hungarian:fontos(hu)
• Icelandic:mikilvægur(is)
• Ido:importanta(io)
• Indonesian:penting(id)
• Ingrian:vaažnoi
• Interlingua:importante
• Irish:tábhachtach,mórluachach
• Italian:importante(it)
• Japanese:Quan trọng(ja)(jūyō),Đại thiết(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(phát)(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 atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bengali:^{(pleaseverify)}দরকারী(bn)(dorkari)
• Tamil:^{(pleaseverify)}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

importantmorf(masculine and feminine pluralimportants)

1. important

Derived terms

• importantment

Related terms

• importància

Further reading

• “important”inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “important”,inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2024
• “important”inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “important”inDiccionari català-valencià-balear,Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology 2

Verb

important

1. gerundofimportar

French

Pronunciation

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

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation:im‧por‧tant

Adjective

important(feminineimportante,masculine pluralimportants,feminine pluralimportantes)

1. important

   Il estimportantde se brosser les dents.

   It isimportantto brush your teeth.

2. large,considerable,significant

   Synonyms:grand,gros,considérable

   Une partieimportantedes votes

   Asignificantnumber of the votes

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

   A snowstorm is a meteorological phenomenon produced by alargewinter depression.

Derived terms

• importamment
• importance
• importantissime

Participle

important

1. presentparticipleofimporter

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

important

1. third-personpluralpresentactiveindicativeofimportō

Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio(Béarn):

  (file)

Adjective

importantm(feminine singularimportanta,masculine pluralimportants,feminine pluralimportantas)

1. important

Related terms

• importància

Romanian

Etymology

BorrowedfromFrenchimportant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[im.porˈtant]

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

importantmorn(feminine singularimportantă,masculine pluralimportanți,feminine and neuter pluralimportante)

1. important

Declension

Declension ofimportant

		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