significant

[sig-nif-i-kuh nt] /sɪgˈnɪf ɪ kənt/

adjective

important; of consequence.

having or expressing a meaning; indicative; suggestive:

a significant wink.

Statistics. of or pertaining to observations that are unlikely to occur by chance and that therefore indicate a systematic cause.

noun

something significant; a sign.

Origin

1570-80; < Latin significant- (stem of significāns), present participle of significāre to signify; see -ant

Related forms

significantly, adverb

nonsignificant, adjective

nonsignificantly, adverb

supersignificant, adjective

supersignificantly, adverb

unsignificant, adjective

unsignificantly, adverb

Synonyms

1. consequential, momentous, weighty. 2. See expressive.

Examples from the web for significant

Yet even this was so significant of current thought, and helped so greatly to form public opinion, that it must not be forgotten.
Wherever it is prominent it contains the hallucinatory reproduction of a memory which was significant for the hysterical onset.
He chooses his characters because they embody concretely and so exemplify the conception he has formed of a significant situation.
There is still a third cause for the rise of this nonsignificant form, or rather of non-significant differences of form.
Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.
Other early engravings are more fantastic and less significant of cruelty.
The half-shut lids are even more suggestive and significant of strange thaumaturgic powers.
None but the pickiest churl could find a significant omission in this compilation.
No people were injured, but the deaths were a significant loss to the small animal population.
Maybe the more significant question should be a comparison of the safety of the two sports.

British Dictionary definitions for significant

significant

/sɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt/

adjective

having or expressing a meaning; indicative

having a covert or implied meaning; suggestive

important, notable, or momentous

(statistics) of or relating to a difference between a result derived from a hypothesis and its observed value that is too large to be attributed to chance and that therefore tends to refute the hypothesis

Derived Forms

significantly, adverb

Word Origin

C16: from Latin significāre to signify

Word Origin and History for significant

adj.

1570s, "having a meaning," from Latin significantem (nominative significans, present participle of significare "make known, indicate" (see signify). Earlier in the same sense was significative (c.1400). Often "having a special or secret meaning," hence "important" (1761). Related: Significantly. Significant figure is from 1680s. Significant other (n.) attested by 1961, in psychology, "the most influential other person in the patient's world."