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.
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
Lizzie O’Leary: Let’s talk about the salience engine and storytelling platform on which you primarily exist, which is YouTube.
From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2026
After the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, such threats likely have more salience now.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
But what gives the row political salience now is Sir Keir Starmer's decision to send Lord Mandelson to Washington a year ago.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
Again, the desire for salience often blunts the student’s sense of the real character of the forms he is rounding out.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 7 "Drama" to "Dublin" by Various
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.
