Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having meaning; significant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Serving as an external sign or symbol of some fact; having a representative signification; intentionally suggestive and almost declaratory; showing forth an internal meaning.
  • Significant; serving as a premise from which some state of things may be inferred; conveying a covert meaning.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Betokening or representing by an external sign.
  • adjective Having signification or meaning; expressive of a meaning or purpose; significant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That tends to signify or indicate; indicative
  • adjective That has meaning or significance; significant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (usually followed by `of') pointing out or revealing clearly

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin significativus: compare French significatif.

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Examples

  • They must say the words significative, that is with the intention of consecrating (Benedict XIV, de SS.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913

  • Thank you Dougal for sharing so significative story .

    Bug Chasing 2010

  • Non very significative but it sounds pretty rude, anyway.

    The Evil Women of Fumetti, top 5 2010

  • Pour la première fois, nous sommes confrontés à la limite de notre croissance et nous avons déjà consommé une part significative de nos ressources.

    Archive 2009-04-10 2009

  • Turkey is the traditional dish in Thanksgiving, one of America's most significative holidays, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

    Happy Turkey Day! (yes, I mean Xmas) 2006

  • Dilthey specifically follows Husserl in his account of how language contributes to "significative apprehension" (Dilthey 2002, 60).

    Wilhelm Dilthey Makkreel, Rudolf 2008

  • In any case, it would not be just generical "offspring" but specifically male offspring the ones who would have the relative advantage and also this advantage would require some significative ammount of Rh- women in the population in any case.

    Neanderthal DNA Kosmo 2008

  • Anyway, any Murdoch move is significative in the US election.

    Murdoch’s Daughter Hosts Obama Fund-Raiser - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • Turkey is the traditional dish in Thanksgiving, one of America's most significative holidays, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

    Archive 2006-11-01 2006

  • And because words (and consequently the attributes of God) have their signification by agreement and constitution of men, those attributes are to be held significative of honour that men intend shall so be; and whatsoever may be done by the wills of particular men, where there is no law but reason, may be done by the will of the Commonwealth by laws civil.

    Leviathan 2007

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