Meaning of important in English

important

adjective

/ɪmˈpɔːr.tənt/ uk

/ɪmˈpɔː.tənt/

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necessary or of great value:

important to I think his career is more important to him than I am.

important for someone/something to do something It's important for children to learn to get along with each other.

the important thing The important thing is to keep the heat low or the sugar will burn.

He's not amazingly handsome, but he's nice and that's more important.

Opposite

unimportant

having great effect or influence:

He was one of the most important writers of that period.

an important person/decision

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

having great effect or influence

importantIt was one of the most important legal cases of the century.
bigThis is a big game tonight - if we lose, we won't be in the playoffs.
majorThis is a major decision so we'd better get it right.
significantDid he make any significant changes to my suggestions?

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More examplesFewer examples

I've lost a folder containing a lot of important documents.
It's important for children to get a good education.
He always leaves important decisions to his wife.
I have to be in London on Friday for an important meeting.
Fresh fruit and vegetables form an important part of a healthy diet.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Very important or urgent

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Related word

importantly

(Definition of important from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

important | Intermediate English

important

adjective

/ɪmˈpɔr·tənt/

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of great value, meaning, or effect:

an important discovery

[ + that clause ] It’s important that you tell the doctor all your symptoms.

Important also means having great influence:

an important modern artist

importance

noun [ U ] us

/ɪmˈpɔr·təns/

He stressed the importance of fruits and vegetables in the diet.

importantly

adverb us

/ɪmˈpɔr·tənt·li/

She has a pleasant personality, but more importantly, she is well qualified for the job.

(Definition of important from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of important

important

This is particularly important on a shallow roof.

From Chicago Daily Herald

It is very, very, very important to see these people represented on television.

From Los Angeles Times

The specifics of the surprise are less important than the way it's revealed.

From Slate Magazine

You're not the most important person in the room.

From Business Insider

But the second thing it does is more important.

From WIRED

There's nothing more important in my life than this.

From The Denver Post

It's very important for marital problems to remain separate from parenting.

From Huffington Post

That's important because we want to have lots of updates.

From The Verge

We went ahead and listed five of the most important ones.

From VentureBeat

The source of your music is important too.

From Billboard

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of important?

Translations of important

in Chinese (Traditional)

必需的, 重要的, 珍貴的…

in Chinese (Simplified)

必需的, 重要的, 珍贵的…

in Spanish

importante, importante [masculine-feminine]…

in Portuguese

importante…

in more languages

in Marathi

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in French

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in Gujarati

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in Swedish

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in German

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in Italian

महत्वाचे, प्रभाव…

大切な, 地位の高い, 重要（じゅうよう）な…

önemli, faydalı, gerekli…

important/-ante, important…

important…

belangrijk…

தேவையான அல்லது பெரிய மதிப்பு கொண்ட, பெரும் விளைவு அல்லது செல்வாக்கு கொண்ட…

महत्वपूर्ण, ज़रूरी या आवश्यक, अहम…

મહત્વનું, જરૂરી, મોટી અસર કે પ્રભાવ…

vigtig…

viktig…

penting…

wichtig…

viktig, mektig, betydningsfull…

اہم…

важливий, значний…

అవసరమైన లేక చాలా విలువ కలిగిన, చాలా ప్రయత్నం, కృషితో లేదా ప్రభావము…

অত্যন্ত জরুরি, অতিশয় গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অথবা মূল্যবান, অতিশয় গুরুত্বপূর্ণ…

důležitý…

penting…

สำคัญ…

quan trọng…

ważny…

중요한, 영향력이 큰…

importante…

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