SIGNIFICANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does significance mean? 

• SIGNIFICANCE (noun)
  The noun SIGNIFICANCE has 3 senses:

1. the quality of being significant

2. a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred

3. the message that is intended or expressed or signified

  Familiarity information: SIGNIFICANCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIGNIFICANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being significant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

do not underestimate the significance of nuclear power

Hypernyms ("significance" is a kind of...):

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Attribute:

important; significant (important in effect or meaning)

insignificant; unimportant (devoid of importance, meaning, or force)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "significance"):

historicalness (significance owing to its history)

meaningfulness (the quality of having great value or significance)

consequence; import; moment (having important effects or influence)

Antonym:

insignificance (the quality of having little or no significance)

Derivation:

significant (important in effect or meaning)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

implication; import; significance

Context example:

the expectation was spread both by word and by implication

Hypernyms ("significance" is a kind of...):

meaning; substance (the idea that is intended)

Derivation:

significant (rich in significance or implication)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The message that is intended or expressed or signified

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

import; meaning; significance; signification

Context example:

the import of his announcement was ambiguous

Hypernyms ("significance" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "significance"):

lexical meaning (the meaning of a content word that depends on the nonlinguistic concepts it is used to express)

grammatical meaning (the meaning of a word that depends on its role in a sentence; varies with inflectional form)

symbolisation; symbolization (the use of symbols to convey meaning)

sense; signified (the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted)

connotation; intension (what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression)

referent (something referred to; the object of a reference)

burden; core; effect; essence; gist (the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work)

intent; purport; spirit (the intended meaning of a communication)

lesson; moral (the significance of a story or event)

nicety; nuance; refinement; shade; subtlety (a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude)

overtone ((usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning or quality)

point (a brief version of the essential meaning of something)

Derivation:

significant (rich in significance or implication)

signify (convey or express a meaning)

 Context examples 

Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance is the most common abnormal finding in a Pap test.

(Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, NCI Dictionary)

Also called AGUS and atypical glandular cells of uncertain significance.

(Atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance, NCI Dictionary)

I will not minimize the significance of this decision—it is a big one.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Beauty has significance, but I never knew its significance before.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Columnar cell lesions are frequently found in breast biopsies but their biologic significance is not known.

(Columnar Cell Lesion of the Breast, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called AGUS and atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance.

(Atypical glandular cells of uncertain significance, NCI Dictionary)

Also called atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance.

(ASCUS, NCI Dictionary)

The significance level for the detection p-value in an absolute analysis.

(Alpha1 Significance, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called atypical glandular cells of uncertain significance and atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance.

(AGUS, NCI Dictionary)

However, the authors noted this loss was generally very small and of unclear clinical significance.

(Intensive blood pressure control may slow age-related brain damage, National Institutes of Health)