Significant
[sɪg'nɪfɪk(ə)nt] or [sɪɡ'nɪfɪkənt]
Definition
(adj.) fairly large; 'won by a substantial margin' .
(adj.) important in effect or meaning; 'a significant change in tax laws'; 'a significant change in the Constitution'; 'a significant contribution'; 'significant details'; 'statistically significant' .
(adj.) too closely correlated to be attributed to chance and therefore indicating a systematic relation; 'the interaction effect is significant at the .01 level'; 'no significant difference was found' .
Checker: Zachariah--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Fitted or designed to signify or make known somethingl having a meaning; standing as a sign or token; expressive or suggestive; as, a significant word or sound; a significant look.
(a.) Deserving to be considered; important; momentous; as, a significant event.
(n.) That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
Checker: Susie
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Betokening, indicative, expressive, pregnant with meaning.[2]. Important, weighty, momentous.
Checked by Juliana
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Expressive, momentous, suggestive, indicative, forcible, weighty, symbolical,telling, speaking
ANT:Inexpressive, meaningless, expressionless, unindicative, mute
Edited by Emily
Examples
- He gave me another significant look as he passed on into the sitting-room. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- With a significant grin Malone produced his pistols, offering one to each of his brethren. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- But, as it was, she only learned, from some very significant looks, how far their penetration, founded on Margaret's instructions, extended. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Particularly significant are the stories that represent him as discouraging extreme mortification. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- More and more important grow the legions; less and less significant are the Senate and the assemblies of Rome. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Archer, while he helped her on with her Opera cloak, noticed the exchange of a significant smile between the older ladies. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- It is a significant and gratifying fact that Confederates should have joined heartily in this spontaneous move. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- When one has such a notion, activity is a mere unavoidable means to something else; it is not significant or important on its own account. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- To-day their shops give employment to 3,800 workmen, which furnishes a significant object lesson as to the importance and growth of the industry. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- To the court of Tai-tsung came an embassy from Byzantium, and, what is more significant, from Persia came a company of Nestorian missionaries (631). H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The dog obeyed the significant beck of his finger, and they drew off, stealthily, together. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Lacking qualitative distinctions, nature lacked significant variety. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Such praise on such an occasion from the man who introduced incandescent electric lighting into Germany is significant as to the continued appreciation abroad of Mr. Edison's work. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The dangerous character of this and other rocks in this vicinity gave long ago to this channel the significant name of Hell Gate. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- But when the subject matter is not used in carrying forward impulses and habits to significant results, it is just something to be learned. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- That quiet foreign person, Mrs. Rubelle, crossed her thin brown hands in front of her, and looked at me with a very significant smile. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- They might have expressed hidden anger or hidden grief--it was hard to say which--there was no significant trembling in them. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- In the former case, his entire course of activity is significant; each phase of it has its own value. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The very title of his book--Human Nature in Politics--is significant. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Raising his finger to his lips and then tapping his sword in a significant manner, the youth crept noiselessly toward the vessel. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Our untrue ideas are significant because they influence our lives enormously. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But its activities, not being utilized in occupation with things which yield significant results, have to be frowned upon. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Bishop had no idea that there was anything significant in the occasion. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- You are so changed, I sometimes think-- there Amy stopped, with a half-timid, half-wistful look, more significant than her unfinished speech. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The injuries and hardships suffered by the men who used it, rather than by the enemy, rendered its name significant. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- For how can there be a society really worth serving unless it is constituted of individuals of significant personal qualities? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Mrs. Cadwallader said nothing, but gave her husband three significant nods, with a very sarcastic expression in her dark eyes. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Another point in the story is very significant indeed. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The necessary consequence is an isolation of science from significant experience. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The contrast, in this respect, between them and their European colleagues is highly significant. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Edited by Emily