significancesig‧nif‧i‧cance /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ ●●○ noun [singular, uncountable] 
Stella didn’t attach any significance to Doug’s query.significance of the significance of climate change The book assesses the significance of Stalin’s policies between 1927 and 1939.significance for The results of the study have a wider significance for all the profession.great/little significance (in/to/for something) The crime problem has great significance to the general public.grasp/appreciate the significance (of something) (=fully understand something) The press were slow to grasp the significance of what happened.2the meaning of a word, sign, action etc, especially when this is not immediately clearsignificance of the significance of the words that refer to the bread Christ shares with his disciplesfull/real/true significance Only later did we realize the true significance of his remark.COLLOCATIONSadjectivesgreat/considerable significance· The judge said the new evidence was of great significance.little significance· This information on its own is of little significance.wider significance· The research dealt with one small group, but their conclusions are of much wider significance.special significance· This place has a special significance for Icelanders.political/social/historical etc significance· The political significance of this change should not be underestimated.verbshave significance· A child's relationship to his parents has a lasting significance for his future relationships.attach significance to something (=give something importance)· They say they don't attach much significance to opinion polls.take on a new/special etc significance (=start to have it)· Sporting competitions took on a new political significance during the Cold War.acquire/assume significance formal (=take on significance)· As links with Europe continue to grow, language learning assumes even greater significance.grasp/appreciate/understand the significance of something· The press was slow to grasp the significance of what had happened.assess the significance of something (=decide how important something is)· It is often difficult to assess the significance of an event until more time has passed.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Freud explained the significance of some of the objects and situations in Anna's dream.
- Nothing can be more exciting than the first time you receive red roses. They have special significance.
- But the main significance of Chasidism was its reaction against the intellectualism of some rabbinical traditions.
- Chaotic population dynamics has a surprising cross-level effect which has enormous significance for genetic structure and evolution.
- Each separation contains symbolic significance, incorporating transitional stages of liminality.
- For our purposes, politics is associated with those aspects of life that have public significance.
- I hope that the people of Northern Ireland will draw significance from that.
- The killings have been dubbed the number 12 murders because of the number's apparent significance to the killer.
- Too frequently, managers forget the significance of a group as a source of power and influence on individuals.
- Unhappily, the significance of the Service is still largely unrecognized, if Congressional appropriations can be taken as evidence.
THESAURUS
the quality of being important: · the importance of cleanliness in preventing infections· He may have been an evil tyrant, but you cannot deny his importance in world history.
the importance of an event, action etc, especially because of the effects or influence it will have in the future: · The significance of the discovery was not understood until years later.· 9/11 was an event of global significance.
the importance and usefulness or something: · The athletes talked to the students about the value of a college education.· Such methods are of little value.
the fact of being important and well-known: · He first came to prominence (=became well-known)in the 1990s.
Longman Language Activatorthe meaning of something what a word, sign, or statement means: · This word 'spring' has several different meanings.· We convey meaning not only by our words but also by our actions.meaning of: · There is a chart that explains the meaning of all the symbols on the map.hidden meaning (=a meaning that is not directly stated): · Was there a hidden meaning behind his words?
one of the meanings of a word that has several meanings: sense of: · In the dictionary the different senses of each word are marked by numbers.in its broadest/fullest sense (=in the most general meaning of the word): · I'm using the word "education" in its broadest sense here.
the important meaning that something has, especially if the meaning is not immediately clear: significance of: · Freud explained the significance of some of the objects and situations in Anna's dream.special significance: · Nothing can be more exciting than the first time you receive red roses. They have special significance.
the way that you explain the meaning of a word: definition of: · Could one of the class give me a definition of the word "equilibrium"?somebody's definition of something: · Obviously your definition of "rich" is very different from mine.
a feeling or an idea that a word makes you think of that is not its actual meaning: · "Bermuda" with its connotations of fun and sunpositive/negative connotation: · For most people "motherhood" has a very positive connotation.
to explain the meaning of a word or phrase: · Each of us might define the concept of freedom in a slightly different way.define something as something: · The dictionary defines it as "a narrow passage".define something loosely/broadly (=define something in a way that is not very exact): · Dietary fibre can be loosely defined as the cell-wall material of plants.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadjectives He did not fully appreciate the significance of signing the contract. The White House spokeswoman sought to play down the significance of the event.
· The judge said the new evidence was of great significance.
· This information on its own is of little significance.
· The research dealt with one small group, but their conclusions are of much wider significance.
· This place has a special significance for Icelanders.
· The political significance of this change should not be underestimated.
verbs· A child's relationship to his parents has a lasting significance for his future relationships.
(=give something importance)· They say they don't attach much significance to opinion polls.
(=start to have it)· Sporting competitions took on a new political significance during the Cold War.
formal (=take on significance)· As links with Europe continue to grow, language learning assumes even greater significance.
· The press was slow to grasp the significance of what had happened.
(=decide how important something is)· It is often difficult to assess the significance of an event until more time has passed.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He did not fully appreciate the significance of signing the contract.· Personally, I think society exaggerates the importance of marriage.
The White House spokeswoman sought to play down the significance of the event.· The capture of the city was of great symbolic importance.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· These changing circumstances, which are outside the control of governments either national or local, are often of considerable significance.· At the same time, the economic functions of government-Federal, state, and local-are of very considerable significance.· A note on research in polytechnics was to have considerable significance in the history of the polytechnics.· This has considerable significance for the communication of emotional states and personal interaction.· Section 5 of the Act creates a relatively minor offence which is likely to be of considerable practical significance.· The manner in which people are helped with those confused and painful feelings may have considerable significance for their future mental health.· Tourism, served by some large hotels but mainly bed and breakfast facilities in many croft houses, is of considerable significance.· Having a constitution in our country in written form is proving of considerable significance.
· However, the idea of capital maintenance also has economic significance: income is only recognized after capital has been maintained intact.· We return to the economic significance of these gases in chapters 4 and 8.· The economic significance of this division was that it made possible a very high rate of saving.· In section 4.2 we shall look at the economic significance of the group as a whole.· There is no doubt about the political and economic significance of this programme.· Nor has an event of this kind had such political and economic significance.· Police studies Fraud is an area of crime of growing economic and social significance, but little is known about its victims.· A third marked contrast, of enormous ecological and economic significance, is in leaf litter.
· At this stage we were not aware of the full significance of the movement of the spoil to form the rampart.· Her death rated a few lines in the papers, but the full significance of her passing went unreported.· It is reckoned that Step 1 normally takes about one year to grasp and accept in its full significance.· The full significance of these combinations is as yet uncertain.· But although essential, these conditions are not sufficient to explain the full significance of such references.· This observation has occasionally even found its way into the specialist literature, but it is easy to miss its full significance.
· What then is their functional significance?· For these reasons the functional significance of these observations is difficult to assess.· These results lend support to the idea that tenascin alternative splice forms may also have functional significance at the protein level.· The mutation has no functional significance and controls no traits, researchers say.· For the purpose of analyzing the functional significance of chaos it is not necessary to make this distinction.
· It must therefore be acquired and taught in a way which gives it general significance.· Analysis of normal and abnormal function of central pattern generators probably has a more general significance.· But even recurrent sense relations are of varying general significance.· First, as a support for services that have a national or general significance as opposed to being of simply local concern.
· Of greater significance are differences that occur in the difficulties and constraints in the utilisation of the basic resources.· Because the authors perceive oral communication to be of great significance in business, they further recommend that: 7.· We also suggest that the kind of mix that results has great significance for the stability and performance of the political system.· During his reign Edgar made one decision which was to have great significance later.· But later on it will assume much greater significance as a vehicle for the dramatic thrust of the music.· A second, of even greater significance, was closely associated with it.· In creating one she has inadvertently made a move towards alternative methods of selling that could have great significance for organic farming.
· When he collaborated directly with her in opera the result was of historical significance.· Yet something happened, whether or not the perpetrators and participants were aware of its historical significance.· The fact that in many societies all three are illegal does not mean that they have a similar social or historical significance.· The moment was one of unique historical significance.
· Except in the more extreme cases mentioned there is little or no significance in them.· The results were or little significance at the time.
· It is very often the intangible and indeterminate savings which provide to be of major significance. 2.· But there are times when stories appear that are of major significance from your point of view.· As yet, however, there have been no further privatizations of major significance.· No other newspapers of major significance were in existence.· In McEnroe's case, the Garden was the scene of his last triumph of major significance.· The act of joining the scheme in this way is of major significance to the delivery of courses recast in this way.· Three of these are of major significance: scientism, relativism and religious intolerance.· It was therefore an event of major significance when Law's retirement was announced in March 1921.
· Under the Bill there will be problems deciding whether the matter has local or national significance.· Some remained essentially local, some gained a widespread popular recognition, and certain deities rose to national significance.· They cover courses which the Government believe should be secured at national level because of their national significance.· First, as a support for services that have a national or general significance as opposed to being of simply local concern.· This long-passed-by and relatively infrequently visited church has two historic treasures of National significance.· Nearly all were rated as doing work of national significance.
· In this constellation, the Right identifies housing as of particular significance.· This provision is of particular significance in relation to salaried partners.· The growth of institutional investment is regarded as being of particular significance in this respect.· The ageing of the elderly population itself is now of particular significance.· Secondly, because of their position in the family economy, deepening poverty has a particular significance for women.· Of particular significance is the implication that vaccinations and immunisations for young children must be affected.· Two pieces of legislation were of particular significance: the 1980 and 1982 Employment Acts.· The station was built on a site of particular significance in the history of Bombay.
· The political significance of this is a matter of controversy.· With the advent of independence in 1961, the cultural gap between colony and protectorate suddenly assumed new and larger political significance.· It is always difficult to assess the political significance of an individual leader.· As we use it here, the term conservative has little or no political significance.· Up to this point the only political significance of racism had been that it provided a divided work force for employers.· The political significance of this change should not be underestimated.· Not withstanding Gore's insistence that his decision was based on personal considerations, the decision was widely seen as of great political significance.· The Joint Committee gave millions of dollars to various institutions, and this soon acquired a political and moral significance.
· This result has indirect value as well as direct practical significance.· Section 5 of the Act creates a relatively minor offence which is likely to be of considerable practical significance.· Of much greater practical significance, and by no means obsolete, is the power to punish for contempt.· Three Levels on which rationality has practical significance may be distinguished, which I shall call groundedness, enlightenment and emancipation.
· There is one artist in every generation whose work possesses real significance, he said.· For anything of real cosmic significance there are always three factors involved.· Although there is a difference, the distinction between the two may be philosophical, with no real significance for us.· But there is a real significance in psychological attention to the year 2000 already apparent.· His thick-set holler lifts what might otherwise have been a cool but minor diversion into a work of real significance.· This is an esoteric law which can explain much to those capable of noting its real significance.
· Some seem to have religious significance.· However, church officials have refused saying a teddy bear has no religious significance.· There is no evidence to suggest that such orientation has the same religious significance as they did for Teotihuacan.· Eating is also a matter of habit and social activity and may have cultural or religious significance.· This brief ritual has little or no religious significance.· The sacral horns appear in a great many images of religious significance.· There are many items which have developed religious significance.· It was a green scarf but let me quickly say that it was bereft of religious significance.
· In this way she indicates the intellectual vitality and the social significance of medicine in the period.· They should give a context that adds a background of social significance.· Claudia had concluded that the rituals of life have a social significance: they are what makes us human.· This attitude was also responsible for a new horological invention that was ultimately to be of far-reaching social significance.· The fact that in many societies all three are illegal does not mean that they have a similar social or historical significance.· Police studies Fraud is an area of crime of growing economic and social significance, but little is known about its victims.· According to Weber the city's real social and political significance was limited to the particular historical circumstances of the mediaeval period.· Design is perceived as having little cultural or social significance.
· Prolonged staring with wide-open eyes has a special significance for the cat.· There was special added significance: She was just 5 years old.· So it was that the scenic heritage of coast and countryside took on a special significance.· The key of E flat major held a very special significance, as we shall see later.· The preeminence assigned to last hours on earth gave a special significance to the final words of the dying.· Are early experiences of special significance just because they are early, and is the child more malleable at that time?· There is no special significance to the width of bars, but it should be uniform.
· Tumour grading and tumour invasion were of borderline statistical significance.· Statistical analysis Statistical significance was assessed by the Mann-Whitney U test.· Although platelet thromboxane generation was elevated in diabetics without clinical evidence of vascular disease, the difference did not reach statistical significance.· Instead of counted matchings, these can be properly correlated and noted in terms of their statistical significance and clustered.· The statistical significance of the area chosen must, of course, be known.· The difference in motility indices for the total period and the postprandial period did not reach statistical significance.· The statistical significance of the difference between the mean value of groups was tested by Student's t test for unpaired values.
· The body, too, may have its symbolic significance.· But meantime the story is rich in symbolic significance for the travails of our age.· Each separation contains symbolic significance, incorporating transitional stages of liminality.· The horn holds immense symbolic significance.· Certain kinds of behaviour, even when considered on its own, may have a symbolic significance that its witnesses find insulting.· None of this is to downplay the actual and symbolic significance of Lieberman's Jewishness.· Their symbolic significance was also very plain.· Some still hope to find symbolic significance in Darwinism.
· The true significance of Kirov's death doubtless eluded him.· That is where his agenda is focused, and that is his true significance.· Their predecessors are still to be found, sometimes cheaply with those who do not know their true significance and worth.· Professor Hoskins certainly mentions these, but perhaps fails to give them their true significance.· All this then, in a nutshell, is the true significance of our work.· The true significance of these groups was fourfold.
· It was an essential part of the peace settlement package but has a wider significance than just between the parties.· But the Bush administration is determined to claim that it has wider significance.· Of wider significance was the effect on postal communication.· Finally, as the revolution approached, the issue assumed much wider significance.· The results will be of interest to food retailers and have a wider significance for other areas of retailing.· For us, the technology that produced Dolly has far wider significance.· Although originally solely bilateral, the U.K. Conventions have some wider significance.· It was a gesture without any wider significance, she knew that; she was exorcising and placating no one but herself.
VERB· That does not mean that they parroted slogans without appreciating their significance.· The reader will no doubt appreciate the significance of this statement.· If they are left unaware of impending judgment they will not appreciate the significance of salvation.· One does not need to acquire hermeneutical skills to appreciate the significance and personal challenge presented by the great truths of salvation.· In these days of piped water supply, it is difficult to appreciate the significance and importance of sources of pure water.· This ensures that only those who fully appreciate the significance of the modules are included in the sanctioning procedure.· They sat down for a meal with the missionaries, fully appreciating the significance of their actions.· To appreciate the significance of the lyrical origin of tragedy, we must first elucidate lyric poetry as such.
· It is always difficult to assess the political significance of an individual leader.· So we shall briefly stand back and assess its significance.· Departures from the null hypothesis were assessed at the 5% significance level.· This present study was not designed to assess the biological significance of endotoxaemia, however, nor the treatment of colitis.· Focusing on class situation enabled us to assess the significance of the challenge that the information specialists might pose to managerial authority.
· But later on it will assume much greater significance as a vehicle for the dramatic thrust of the music.· By the end of the Old Kingdom the role of Osiris as ruler of the dead began to assume more significance.· The grant of a patent can too often assume a talismanic significance for those closely involved in its conception and development.· Under certain conditions, conformity thus assumes an understandable significance.· What research does is to reformulate the familiar so that it assumes a new significance.· These arguments have assumed increasing significance given the general economic situation and the strategies of the present government.
· And, as people get older, they tend to attach greater significance to the home in providing such security.· Pluralists, in fact, attach much significance and power to action involvement, and skill in the political market place.· Of the two, historians normally attach greatest significance to the former.
· I shall try to explain further the significance of this distinction in the pages that follow.· An interactive video explains the significance of the symbols and the logic of their arrangement along vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines.· Finally, such figures also help to explain the significance of the committals explosion.· But although essential, these conditions are not sufficient to explain the full significance of such references.
· It must therefore be acquired and taught in a way which gives it general significance.· The economic climate of the 1980's may give new significance to the DRAs.· The preeminence assigned to last hours on earth gave a special significance to the final words of the dying.· The tendency amongst many contemporary psychologists is to give less significance than Freud to the purely psychosexual aspects of property.· Professor Hoskins certainly mentions these, but perhaps fails to give them their true significance.· Build into the drama periods of reflection; they give significance to the drama itself and to individual contributions.· With hindsight this final point should have been given more significance from the start.· Here just sufficient theory will be given to show the significance of the quantity measured.
· The expert's advantage is in his easy access to the evidence and in his better ability to grasp its significance.· Burty grasped the significance of the photographic Nemesis.
· Historically, where there has been a demand for sport, the particulars of participants seem to lose significance.· Rises in base pay are losing their significance.· Within a few months, and certainly in the perspective of historic events, the terms of the Pact lost their significance.· These positions may have lost their significance for people long ago, but once these trees marked the way the world was.· The old fiction that the state is above the parties has lost its significance.
· The results of this trial were encouraging, the benefits of the potency reaching statistical significance.· We also found lower concentrations in smokers although this did not reach significance.· These differences, however, did not reach statistical significance.· Although platelet thromboxane generation was elevated in diabetics without clinical evidence of vascular disease, the difference did not reach statistical significance.· However, in neither group did this reach significance.· The difference in motility indices for the total period and the postprandial period did not reach statistical significance.· In our study women who smoked had lower conception rates, though this did not reach significance.· Gastric metaplasia tended to occur less frequently in our patients receiving NSAIDs, but the differences did not reach statistical significance.
· However, before approximately 10 months, babies do not understand the significance of an adult's manual pointing.· To understand the significance of that gesture, it is useful to understand something about the nature of Chesapeake Bay.· Do they understand the significance of a certain uniform for instance, or the kind of case a character is carrying?· It will be years before I will understand the significance of these little balloons.· As they devise the measures and control the measuring devices, only they understand the significance of what they do.· Since your officers removed the Black prince from the gallery yesterday, I'd be a fool not to understand the significance.· It is very difficult to understand the significance and meaning of ageing without an appreciation of this crucial factor.· This factor may provide the key to understanding its power and significance in cultural construction.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- And, since he seems to attach importance to the language-game of giving orders and obeying them, let us begin there.
- Hence he attaches importance to spending more of the government's research cash in industry as opposed to within the government's own establishments.
WORD FAMILYnounsignificance ≠ insignificancesignificationadjectivesignificant ≠ insignificantverbsignifyadverbsignificantly ≠ insignificantly
1the importance of an event, action etc, especially because of the effects or influence it will have in the future OPP insignificance: Stella didn’t attach any significance to Doug’s query.significance of the significance of climate change The book assesses the significance of Stalin’s policies between 1927 and 1939.significance for The results of the study have a wider significance for all the profession.great/little significance (in/to/for something) The crime problem has great significance to the general public.grasp/appreciate the significance (of something) (=fully understand something) The press were slow to grasp the significance of what happened.2the meaning of a word, sign, action etc, especially when this is not immediately clearsignificance of the significance of the words that refer to the bread Christ shares with his disciplesfull/real/true significance Only later did we realize the true significance of his remark.COLLOCATIONSadjectivesgreat/considerable significance· The judge said the new evidence was of great significance.little significance· This information on its own is of little significance.wider significance· The research dealt with one small group, but their conclusions are of much wider significance.special significance· This place has a special significance for Icelanders.political/social/historical etc significance· The political significance of this change should not be underestimated.verbshave significance· A child's relationship to his parents has a lasting significance for his future relationships.attach significance to something (=give something importance)· They say they don't attach much significance to opinion polls.take on a new/special etc significance (=start to have it)· Sporting competitions took on a new political significance during the Cold War.acquire/assume significance formal (=take on significance)· As links with Europe continue to grow, language learning assumes even greater significance.grasp/appreciate/understand the significance of something· The press was slow to grasp the significance of what had happened.assess the significance of something (=decide how important something is)· It is often difficult to assess the significance of an event until more time has passed.