importance

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɪmˈpɔː.təns/, US /ɪmˈpɔːr.təns/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French importance,^[2][3][4] or directly from Medieval Latin importantia (“significance, consequence”),^[2][4][5] from important- “being of consequence”, from importāre,^[4] the source of important and import.^[2][4] Merriam-Webster takes the French word from Old Italian importanza.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being important, or of signifying: 1508 in the OED,^[6] about 1500 in Etymonline,^[2] the early 16th century in NODE and SOED.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

An important matter is from 1570,^[6] and an important person from the late 16th century in SOED, 1896 in the OED.^[5][6] Urgency or importunity was a sense in the 16th century, now obsolete,^[6] and a dignified style or air of consequence, pompousness, from 1607.^[6] Personal consequence or standing is from 1678.^[6]

Timeline

• 1508 – significance.^[6]
• 1570 – an important matter.^[6]
• 1607 – an air of consequence.^[6]
• 1678 – personal standing.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The quality of being important; significance.
2. Personal status or standing; consequence.
3. (archaic) An important matter.
4. (obsolete) Importunity.

Word family

• unimportance
• self-importance

Related words

• important
• import
• port

Usage notes

Importance, consequence, moment, significance, import and weight all refer to being significant or worthy of note; importance is the most general.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin