significantly
Americanadverb
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in a way or as a fact that is important and deserves attention.
Significantly, Australia was a nation born in peacetime, not war.
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by a relatively great amount or to a relatively high degree.
She seems to have grown significantly as a character—her decisions are more mature, for one thing.
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in a way that carries special, secret, or private meaning.
The detective looked significantly at the collection of pills on the table, but said nothing.
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Statistics. in a way or to a degree that is unlikely to occur by chance and therefore indicates a systematic cause.
These results show that sleep significantly affects memory organization, even in the infant brain.
Other Word Forms
- nonsignificantly adverb
- supersignificantly adverb
- unsignificantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of significantly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her résumé is already significantly more stacked than most people who recently exited their teens.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Friday's data significantly beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expecting an increase of 59,000 jobs.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
The bottom two rungs in the E-shaped economy have significantly cut their discretionary spending — with some even skipping meals, as McDonald’s highlighted in its latest earnings report.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026
Futures on Friday were pricing in a 76% chance that the central bank will hold rates steady through year’s end, according to CME FedWatch, little changed from Thursday but up significantly from a month ago.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
The constitutional settlement of 1787–1788 thus becomes the natural fulfillment of the Revolution and the leaders of the Federalist party in the 1790s—Adams, Hamilton, and, most significantly, Washington—as the true heirs of the revolutionary legacy.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
