Etymologically
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important

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Pronunciation

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English importante,[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin importāns (“important, momentous”) (stem important-),[4][3][5] the present participle of importāre (“to be significant, to signify”),[4][6][2] from Latin importāre (“to bring in, convey”),[4][3] from in- (“in, into”) and portāre (“to carry”).[4][7] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged gives a route through Middle French important from Italian importante,[8] and Klein derives it from French.[9] It is related to import.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Significant, of great consequence, weighty: 1444.[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Of a person it meant “influential, powerful” from 1581.[10] From 1591 to 1787 it could also mean “importunate, urgent”, a sense the AHD still lists.[10][11] The sense “pompous, self-important” is dated 1713 by Etymonline[4] and 1726 by the HTOED.[10] Of antiques and works of art, important has meant “of great value” since 1810.[10] Importance is recorded in 1508, in Wolsey's letters to Henry VII.[3]

Timeline

  • 1444 – significant, weighty.[3][10]
  • 1508 – importance.[3]
  • 1581 – of a person, influential.[10]
  • 1591 – importunate (obsolete by 1787).[10]
  • 1713 – pompous.[4]
  • 1810 – of antiques, valuable.[10]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having great significance or consequence.
  2. Having high rank or influence: an important man.
  3. Showing a sense of one's own importance; pompous.
  4. (archaic) Importunate.

Word family

  • importantly
  • superimportant
  • unimportant
  • all-important
  • import
  • importance
  • portable
  • porter
  • report
  • support
  • transport

Usage notes

Both more important and more importantly are used to introduce a statement (More importantly, her record is unmatched).[7][11] Some object to importantly because the phrase is short for what is more important,[7] but the AHD sees no reason to prefer either form,[11] and RHWU notes that more importantly is now the more common, probably by analogy with sentence adverbs such as fortunately.[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 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin