significant

Signifying something; carrying meaning.

Adjective

  1. Signifying something; carrying meaning.
    • a significant word or sound
    • a significant look
    • It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient. - 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC,...

    Synonyms: meaningful

  2. Having a noticeable or major effect.
    • That was a significant step in the right direction.
    • The First World War was a significant event.
    • The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.¹⁹⁶...

    Synonyms: notable pregnant

  3. Reasonably large in number or amount.
  4. Having a covert or hidden meaning.
  5. Having a low probability of occurring by chance (for example, having high correlation and thus likely to be related).
  6. Of a digit or figure, see significant figure.

Origin

From Latin significans, present participle of significare, from signum (“sign”) + ficare (“do, make”), variant of facere.

Forms

more significant most significant

Synonyms

important

Antonyms

insignificant ignorable negligible slight

Related

significance significand signify

Derived

consignificant hypersignificant least significant bit least significant byte most significant bit most significant byte nonsignificant significant digit significant figure significantly significantness significant other significant wave height statistically significant subsignificant unsignificant

Noun

  1. That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
    • In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts. - 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
    • And in my glass significants there are - a. 1850, William Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid:

Forms

significants