noun
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the act, business, or process of importing goods or services
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an imported product or service
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of importation
Explanation
Importation is what happens when goods are purchased from a foreign country to be sold at home. The importation of cars into the U.S. is what makes it possible for you to buy a Honda or a BMW. If two countries have a trade agreement, it means they've worked out a deal for importation and exportation. When lobster is shipped from Maine and sold in China, that's exportation, and when macarons are baked in Paris and sold in New York, that's U.S. importation. The noun importation comes from the verb import, which first meant "convey information" and then "bring in goods from abroad," from the Latin portare, "to carry."
Vocabulary lists containing importation
Vocabulary from The Articles of Confederation
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The 18th Amendment (1919)
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5.4: The Second Industrial Revolution (Sources 1–8)
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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.
Meanwhile, the U.K. has also eased its sanctions, with a trade waiver allowing the importation of Russian oil refined into diesel and jet fuel in third countries.
From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026
Now he is back at his old ways, imposing new duties on the importation of brand-name pharmaceuticals and certain metals.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was charged with one felony count of importation contrary to law following the Oct.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
The International Trade Commission is probing whether Apple’s redesigned watches fall within a limited exclusion order issued in 2023 prohibiting the importation of infringing devices.
From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025
Hazleton Research Products is a division of Coming, Inc. Coming’s Hazleton unit is involved with the importation and sale of laboratory animals.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
