import
- 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.
- to be of consequence or importance; to matter: We are friends, and it does not import that we have only just met.
- 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
Synonyms for import
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for import
construction, worth, value, point, heart, interpretation, gist, purport, bearing, significance, drift, understanding, thrust, stuff, sense, signification, score, implication, meat, acceptationExamples 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 MoreGary 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 EnvyLloyd Grove
September 16, 2014
Earlier this year, a Long Island man admitted to trying to import 40,000 piranhas from Hong Kong.
It also claimed that he had traveled to Turkey to buy communication equipment to import to Iran.
After all, the four-term Congresswoman is hardly dripping with historical, or even political, import.
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 WiseliJohanna Spyri
What mean these two days wasted at Axminster at a time when every hour is of import?
Micah ClarkeArthur Conan Doyle
And then there is not such mystery about these matters as we import into them.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other TalesGuy De Maupassant
She continued, therefore, without troubling herself as to their import.
Gomez AriasJoaqun Telesforo de Trueba y Coso
It seemed to be a question directed to them, but the import of it was lost.
import
- 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
- (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
Word Origin for import
Word Origin and History for import
"consequence, importance," 1580s; sense of "that which is imported" is from 1680s; both from import (v.).