insignificance

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ UK /ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being unimportant or trivial

Beside the vast desert, our quarrels shrank into insignificance.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... unimportance triviality pettinessnegligibilityworthlessness

Opposites

significance importance consequence magnitude

Word family

Forms insignificancy

Related forms insignificant significance signify sign

Etymology

From in- ('not') + significance, from Latin significare ('to signify'), from signum ('sign, mark') + facere ('to make, do').

in- Latin signum Latin facere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

# insignificance

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns
**IPA (UK):** ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns

## Meanings
1. the quality of being unimportant or trivial

## Examples
- Beside the vast desert, our quarrels shrank into insignificance.

## Synonyms
- unimportance
- triviality
- pettiness
- negligibility
- worthlessness

## Antonyms
- significance
- importance
- consequence
- magnitude

## Related Forms
- insignificant
- significance
- signify
- sign

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: in-
- Root: signum
- Root: facere

## Etymology
From in- ('not') + significance, from Latin significare ('to signify'), from signum ('sign, mark') + facere ('to make, do').

## AI Etymology
insignificance comes from in- ('not') + significance, from Latin significare ('to signify'), from signum ('sign, mark') + facere ('to make, do'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the noun sense is "the quality of being unimportant or trivial", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as insignificant, significance, signify, and sign. Its semantic neighborhood includes unimportance, triviality, pettiness, and negligibility, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin in-, Latin signum, and Latin facere.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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