significant

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /sɪɡˈnɪf.ə.kənt/ UK /sɪɡˈnɪf.ɪ.kənt/ See IPA manual

Freq #4741

Meanings

1

adj
Large or important enough to have a noticeable effect.

There has been a significant change in the tax laws.
2

adj
Fairly large in number or amount.

A significant number of students failed the exam.
3

adj
Carrying a special meaning.

She gave him a significant look across the room.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · large or important enough... important notable

2 adj · fairly large in number or... ample

3 adj · carrying a special meaning. meaningful

Opposites

ignorable insignificant negligible slight

Word family

Forms significancy

Derived forms consignificanthypersignificantnonsignificant significantlysignificantnesssubsignificantunsignificant

Related forms significancesignificandsignify

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

Etymology

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

*dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European significans Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# significant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /sɪɡˈnɪf.ə.kənt/
**IPA (UK):** /sɪɡˈnɪf.ɪ.kənt/
**Frequency rank:** 4741

## Meanings
1. Large or important enough to have a noticeable effect.
2. Fairly large in number or amount.
3. Carrying a special meaning.

## Examples
- There has been a significant change in the tax laws.
- A significant number of students failed the exam.
- She gave him a significant look across the room.

## Synonyms
- important

## Antonyms
- ignorable
- insignificant
- negligible
- slight

## Derived Forms
- consignificant
- hypersignificant
- nonsignificant
- significantly
- significantness
- subsignificant
- unsignificant

## Related Forms
- significance
- significand
- signify

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰeh₁-
- Root: significans

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

## AI Etymology
Significant is from Latin significans, present participle of significare, from signum (“sign”) + ficare (“do, make”), variant of facere. Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-, Latin significans. In current use it includes senses such as Large or important enough to have a noticeable effect and Fairly large in number or amount.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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