| 释义 |
important, a.|ɪmˈpɔːtənt|
[a. F. important (16th c. Montaigne) = It., Sp. importante, ad. med.L. importans, -tantem, f. importāre in its med.L. sense ‘to be of consequence, weight, or force’: see import v. II.]
1. a. Having much import or significance; carrying with it great or serious consequences; weighty, momentous, grave, significant.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 55 How much available then and important is it to every man to be frequented with learning. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xl. 249 Wee may observe three points of important consequence. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. xi. (1848) 131 This last and importantest of humane Actions. 1713Addison Cato i. i, The great, the important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome. 1843Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome Pref. (1864) 26 Hume..has overlooked one very important circumstance. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 13 Events most important to the understanding of his narrative.
b. spec. Of antiques or the like: very valuable.
1904H. James Golden Bowl II. xlii. 368 She had passed her arm into his, and the other objects in the room, the other pictures, the sofas, the chairs, the tables, the cabinets, the ‘important’ pieces, supreme in their way, stood out, round them. 1969Times 18 Mar. 18/1 (Advt.), A highly important jewelled binding. 1973Country Life 15 Nov. 76 An important tortoise shell and ormolu English Bracket Clock..by Robert Hodgkin, London, c 1720.
2. Having an air of importance or consequence; consequential, pompous, grandiose, pretentious.
1713Swift Cadenus & Vanessa 376 Discoursing, with important face, On ribbons, fans, and gloves and lace. a1732Gay Fables ii. iii, Fowls of all ranks surround his hut, To worship his important strut. 1876J. Weiss Wit Hum. & Shaks. iii. 75 Parodying the important phrases and impotent exploits of the suburban constable.
†3. Urgent, pressing, importunate. Obs.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 138 Antipholis, my husband, Whom I made lord of me, and all I had, At your important letters. 1599― Much Ado ii. i. 74 If the Prince bee too important, tell him there is measure in euery thing. 1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. iii. vii. §8 (1670) 410 Not to be important to his friends, as they that are alwayes complaining.
4. Preceded by more or most: used as a kind of sentence adjective. Cf. importantly adv. 1.
This construction is discussed in R. Quirk et al. Gram. Contemp. Eng. (1972) §5.26 (p. 255).
1964N. Spinrad in D. Knight 100 Yrs. Sci. Fiction (1969) 270 What were these quasi-stellar objects and, perhaps even more important, how were they giving off so much energy? 1965J. C. Davis Adv. Physical Chem. x. 449 The carbon atom in its ground state is not completely described by hydrogen-like orbitals. More important, a carbon atom in a molecular configuration hardly resembles a free carbon atom. 1968R. H. W. Brown Gardening Complete vii. 192 It is a mistake to follow this advice too rigidly. One must wait until the soil is damp enough and, more important, warm enough. 1972Physics Bull. Oct. 577/1 The participants must be fed with a stream of information at the crucial times... Most important of all, the foreign guests must be assured that the hosts will ease all problems of entry into their country. 1972Sunday Times 22 Oct. 15/6 But, most important of all, it is now clear that reproducing a document which has been leaked in an unauthorised manner means [etc.]. 1973Sci. Amer. Jan. 7 (Advt.), But most important of all, we begin by giving you the training you need to [etc.]. Ibid. 13/3 It can be readily synthesized from coal, oil or natural gas. More important, it can be produced simply by splitting molecules of water. 1973Daily Tel. 13 Jan. 25/8 But, more important, a linked policy can be encashed—surrendered—before maturity date and the saver gets a high proportion of his savings returned to him.
5. Comb., as important-looking adj.
1925F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby iii. 45 On a chance we tried an important-looking door. 1926‘C. Barry’ Detective's Holiday 42 Another important-looking person. |