Popular Synonym - Important

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Synonyms: significant, vital, imperative, central, chief, key, main, essential, principal, critical, crucial, weighty
Antonym: trivial


Synonyms: high-ranking, worthy, notable, eminent, prominent, influential
Antonym: insignificant

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The adj important has 5 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)

1. (156) important, of import -- (of great significance or value; "important people"; "the important questions of the day")
2. (4) significant, important -- (important in effect or meaning; "a significant change in tax laws"; "a significant change in the Constitution"; "a significant contribution"; "significant details"; "statistically significant")
3. (2) crucial, important -- (of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis; "a crucial moment in his career"; "a crucial election"; "a crucial issue for women")
4. (1) authoritative, important -- (having authority or ascendancy or influence; "an important official"; "the captain's authoritative manner")
5. important -- (having or suggesting a consciousness of high position; "recited the decree with an important air"; "took long important strides in the direction of his office")

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5 senses of important

Sense 1
important (vs. unimportant), of import -- (of great significance or value; "important people"; "the important questions of the day")
=> all-important(prenominal), all important(predicate), crucial, essential, of the essence(predicate) -- (of the greatest importance; "the all-important subject of disarmament"; "crucial information"; "in chess cool nerves are of the essence")
=> alpha -- (first in order of importance; "the alpha male in the group of chimpanzees"; "the alpha star in a constellation is the brightest or main star")
=> beta -- (second in order of importance; "the candidate, considered a beta male, was perceived to be unable to lead his party to victory")
=> big -- (significant; "graduation was a big day in his life")
=> burning(prenominal) -- (of immediate import; "burning issues of the day")
=> cardinal, central, fundamental, key, primal -- (serving as an essential component; "a cardinal rule"; "the central cause of the problem"; "an example that was fundamental to the argument"; "computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure")
=> chief(prenominal), main(prenominal), primary(prenominal), principal(prenominal) -- (most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were primary targets")
=> consequential, eventful -- (having important issues or results; "the year's only really consequential legislation"; "an eventful decision")
=> Copernican -- (of radical or major importance; "a Copernican revolution in modern art")
=> distinguished, eminent -- ((used of persons) standing above others in character or attainment or reputation; "our distinguished professor"; "an eminent scholar"; "a great statesman")
=> grand -- (the most important and magnificent in adornment; "grand ballroom"; "grand staircase")
=> grave, grievous, heavy, weighty -- (of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought; "grave responsibilities"; "faced a grave decision in a time of crisis"; "a grievous fault"; "heavy matters of state"; "the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference")
=> great, outstanding -- (of major significance or importance; "a great work of art"; "Einstein was one of the outstanding figures of the 20th centurey")
=> historic -- (important in history; "the historic first voyage to outer space")
=> in-chief(postnominal) -- (indicating the head of a staff; "editor-in-chief")
=> measurable -- (of distinguished importance; "a measurable figure in literature")
=> most-valuable -- (designating the player judged to be the most important to the sport; "the most-valuable player award")
=> serious -- (of great consequence; "marriage is a serious matter")
=> strategic -- (highly important to or an integral part of a strategy or plan of action especially in war; "a strategic chess move"; "strategic withdrawal"; "strategic bombing missions")
Also See-> essential#2; significant#1, important#2; valuable#1

Sense 2
significant (vs. insignificant), important -- (important in effect or meaning; "a significant change in tax laws"; "a significant change in the Constitution"; "a significant contribution"; "significant details"; "statistically significant")
=> momentous -- (of very great significance; "deciding to drop the atom bomb was a very big decision"; "a momentous event")
=> epochal, epoch-making -- (highly significant or important especially bringing about or marking the beginning of a new development or era; "epochal decisions made by Roosevelt and Churchill"; "an epoch-making discovery")
=> earthshaking, world-shaking, world-shattering -- (sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; "earthshaking proposals"; "the contest was no world-shaking affair"; "the conversation...could hardly be called world-shattering")
=> evidential, evidentiary -- (serving as or based on evidence; "evidential signs of a forced entry"; "its evidentiary value")
=> fundamental, profound -- (far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect especially on the nature of something; "the fundamental revolution in human values that has occurred"; "the book underwent fundamental changes"; "committed the fundamental error of confusing spending with extravagance"; "profound social changes")
=> large -- (fairly large or important in effect; influential; "played a large role in the negotiations")
=> monumental -- (of outstanding significance; "Einstein's monumental contributions to physics")
=> noteworthy, remarkable -- (worthy of notice; "a noteworthy fact is that her students rarely complain"; "a remarkable achievement")
=> probative, probatory -- (tending to prove a particular proposition or to persuade you of the truth of an allegation; "evidence should only be excluded if its probative value was outweighed by its prejudicial effect")
=> operative, key -- (effective; producing a desired effect; "the operative word")
=> portentous, prodigious -- (of momentous or ominous significance; "such a portentous...monster raised all my curiosity"- Herman Melville; "a prodigious vision")
Also See-> important#1, of import#1; meaningful#1

Sense 3
crucial (vs. noncrucial), important -- (of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis; "a crucial moment in his career"; "a crucial election"; "a crucial issue for women")
=> critical, decisive -- (forming or having the nature of a turning point or crisis; "a critical point in the campaign"; "the critical test")
=> life-and-death, life-or-death -- (vitally important; "a life-and-death struggle")
=> pivotal, polar -- (being of crucial importance; "a pivotal event"; "Its pivotal location has also exposed it to periodic invasions"- Henry Kissinger; "the polar events of this study"; "a polar principal")
Also See-> critical#6; decisive#1; essential#2

Sense 4
authoritative, important -- (having authority or ascendancy or influence; "an important official"; "the captain's authoritative manner")
=> influential (vs. uninfluential) -- (having or exercising influence or power; "an influential newspaper"; "influential leadership for peace")

Sense 5
important -- (having or suggesting a consciousness of high position; "recited the decree with an important air"; "took long important strides in the direction of his office")
=> immodest (vs. modest) -- (having or showing an exaggerated opinion of your importance, ability, etc; "brash immodest boasting")