Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
significance [sig-nif-i-kuhns] SynonymsExamplesWord Origin noun
- importance; consequence: the significance of the new treaty.
- meaning; import: The familiar place had a new significance for her.
- the quality of being significant or having a meaning: to give significance to dull chores.
Origin of significance 1400–50; late Middle English (Middle French) Latin significantia force, meaning, equivalent to significant- (see significant) + -ia -ia; see -ance Related formsnon·sig·nif·i·cance, nounself-sig·nif·i·cance, nounSynonyms for significance 1. moment, weight. See importance. 2. See meaning.Antonyms for significance 1. triviality. Related Words for significances connotation, implication, understanding, sense, weight, matter, influence, gravity, merit, relevance, magnitude, virtue, consequence, prestige, heart, force, meat, point, nitty-gritty, nub Examples from the Web for significances Historical Examples of significances
He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances.
Jack London
If we can just get that word and its significances over to the women in this town!
George Madden Martin
As tints, so significances, more delicate shall be won by man’s soul in contact with nature.
J. Edward Mercer
The significances which it is meant that clothes should bear are still most numerous and important.
Wilfred Mark Webb
My word, as an exclamation with a thousand significances, could have arrived from nowhere else than Old England.
Jack London
British Dictionary definitions for significances significance noun
- consequence or importance
- something signified, expressed, or intended
- the state or quality of being significant
- statistics
- a measure of the confidence that can be placed in a result, esp a substantive causal hypothesis, as not being merely a matter of chance
- (as modifier)a significance level Compare confidence level See also hypothesis testing
Word Origin and History for significances significance n.
c.1400, “meaning,” from Old French significance or directly from Latin significantia “meaning, force, energy,” from significans, present participle of significare “to mean, import, signify” (see signify). The earlier word was signifiance (mid-13c.). Meaning “importance” is from 1725. Related: Significancy.