insignificant

Etymology

It is formed from English in- (“not”) + significant,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and the OED compares French insignifiant.^[2] The base, recorded from the 1570s, is from Latin significāns, the present participle of significō (“to make known, indicate”),^[3][7] which comes from signum (“mark, sign”) and the combining form of faciō (“to make”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without meaning, of words or speech: 1651, in Hobbes's Leviathan.^[2][4][3] Etymonline also gives "answering to no purpose" from the 1650s,^[3] and Dictionary.com dates the word earlier, to 1620–30.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From "meaningless" the word passed to "without weight or effect": the sense "ineffective" lasted from 1661 to 1732,^[2][5] while "of no importance, trivial" (1658) and, of a person, "of no standing or influence" (1669) became the main meanings.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "wanting meaning" first and "unimportant, wanting weight, ineffectual" second.^[6] The sense "small in size" is recorded from 1748,^[2][3] and the OED notes that the sense of unimportance now usually carries some idea of size as well.^[2] As a noun the word has meant an unimportant person since 1710, in Steele's Tatler, and a word without meaning since 1816.^[2] In east Suffolk dialect it meant "immaterial, all the same to one".^[9]

Timeline

• 1620–30 – first date given by Dictionary.com.^[8]
• 1651 – without meaning, of words or speech.^[2][4]
• 1658 – of no importance; trivial.^[2]
• 1661 – ineffective (obsolete by 1732).^[2]
• 1669 – of a person, without position or influence.^[2]
• 1710 – noun, an unimportant person.^[2]
• 1748 – small in size.^[2][3]
• 1816 – noun, a word without meaning.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having little or no importance; trivial: an insignificant detail.^[10][4][2]
2. Small in size or amount: The fee was insignificant compared with the repairs.^[10][4][2]
3. Of a person, lacking position, character or influence; contemptible.^[4][2]
4. Having no meaning; meaningless.^[10][4][2]
5. (obsolete, 1661–1732) Having no effect; futile.^[4][2]

Noun

1. An unimportant person or thing.^[4][2]

Word family

• insignificantly
• insignificancy
• insignificance

Related words

• significant
• signify
• significance
• sign

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins