import

[verb im-pawrt, -pohrt; noun im-pawrt, -pohrt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR import ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to bring in (merchandise, commodities, workers, etc.) from a foreign country for use, sale, processing, reexport, or services.

to bring or introduce from one use, connection, or relation into another: foreign bodies imported into the blood; foodstuffs imported from the farm.

to convey as meaning or implication; signify: Her words imported a change of attitude.

to involve as a necessary circumstance; imply: Religion imports belief.

Computers. to bring (documents, data, etc.) into one software program from another.

Archaic. to be of consequence or importance to; concern.

verb (used without object)

to be of consequence or importance; to matter: We are friends, and it does not import that we have only just met.

noun

something that is imported from abroad; an imported commodity or article.

the act of importing or bringing in; importation, as of goods from abroad: the import of foreign cars.

consequence or importance: matters of great import.

meaning; implication; purport: He felt the import of her words.

Origin of import

1400–50; late Middle English importen < Latin importāre. See im-¹, port⁵

Related formsim·port·a·ble, adjectiveim·port·a·bil·i·ty, nounim·port·er, nounnon·im·port, nouno·ver·im·port, verb (used with object)pre·im·port, verb (used with object)pre·im·port, nounun·im·port·ed, adjectiveun·im·port·ing, adjective

Synonyms for import

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR import ON THESAURUS.COM

10. significance, sense.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for import

construction, worth, value, point, heart, interpretation, gist, purport, bearing, significance, drift, understanding, thrust, stuff, sense, signification, score, implication, meat, acceptation

Examples from the Web for import

Contemporary Examples of import

The import of those words resonated through my entire being.
When Gary Wright Met George Harrison: Dream Weaver, John and Yoko, and More
Gary Wright
September 29, 2014
CEO Mark Thompson, a solidly-built, 6-foot-2 import from the BBC.
Dean Baquet, the NYT’s Executive Editor, on Jill Abramson, Race, Surviving Cancer—and TMZ Envy
Lloyd Grove
September 16, 2014
Earlier this year, a Long Island man admitted to trying to import 40,000 piranhas from Hong Kong.
The $10 Billion Pet Cheetah and Chimp Industry
Sharon Adarlo
July 20, 2014
It also claimed that he had traveled to Turkey to buy communication equipment to import to Iran.
Is Iran’s Missing General, Ali Reza Asgari, Living in the United States?
IranWire
May 30, 2014
After all, the four-term Congresswoman is hardly dripping with historical, or even political, import.
Michele Bachmann’s Crazy War on Women’s History
Michelle Cottle
May 8, 2014

Historical Examples of import

She was so full of her own thoughts at that time, that she did not fairly take in the import of her words.
Rico and Wiseli
Johanna Spyri
What mean these two days wasted at Axminster at a time when every hour is of import?
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
And then there is not such mystery about these matters as we import into them.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales
Guy De Maupassant
She continued, therefore, without troubling herself as to their import.
Gomez Arias
Joaqun Telesforo de Trueba y Coso
It seemed to be a question directed to them, but the import of it was lost.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930
Various

British Dictionary definitions for import

import

verb (ɪmˈpɔːt, ˈɪmpɔːt)

to buy or bring in (goods or services) from a foreign countryCompare export

(tr) to bring in from an outside sourceto import foreign words into the language

rare to signify or be significant; mean; conveyto import doom

noun (ˈɪmpɔːt)

(often plural)

goods (visible imports) or services (invisible imports) that are bought from foreign countries
(as modifier)an import licence

significance or importancea man of great import

meaning or signification

Canadian informal a sportsman or -woman who is not native to the country in which he or she plays

Derived Formsimportable, adjectiveimportability, nounimporter, noun

Word Origin for import

C15: from Latin importāre to carry in, from im- + portāre to carry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for import

early 15c., "convey information, express, make known, signify," from Latin importare "bring in, convey," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + portare "to carry" (see port (n.1)). Sense of "bring in goods from abroad" first recorded c.1500. Related: Imported; importing.

"consequence, importance," 1580s; sense of "that which is imported" is from 1680s; both from import (v.).