Etymology
Origin of salience
Explanation
Salience means importance. Your birthday will always be a date that jumps out at you with a lot of salience or importance. Salience comes from the Latin salire, meaning "to leap." Something with salience leaps out at you because it is unique or special in some way. This could be an issue — like health care reform, or a day — like 9/11, or even something someone said — like the State of the Union address. If it jumps out at you as remarkable or special, it's characterized by a quality of salience.
Vocabulary lists containing salience
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.
Prediction-market firms achieved massive growth and cultural salience in the U.S. through major events like the presidential election and Super Bowl.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
CAHILLANE: There’s no such thing as a forever brand, where because it has so much salience people are just going to continue to buy it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
This is along with what she called the "growing salience of nuclear weapons".
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
I had landed here for my fateful drive because of its climate salience, as well as its award-winning Hummer dealership, Sheehan Buick GMC.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025
Her eyes were bright and resolute, and the lamplight threw into salience the curve of her jaw and chin.
From Command by William McFee
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.
