weighty
Americanadjective
-
having considerable weight; heavy; ponderous.
a weighty bundle.
- Antonyms:
- light
-
burdensome or troublesome.
the weightier cares of sovereignty.
-
important or momentous.
weighty negotiations.
- Synonyms:
- consequential, grave, serious, significant
- Antonyms:
- unimportant, light
-
having or exerting influence, power, etc.; influential.
a weighty merchant of Boston.
adjective
-
having great weight
-
important or momentous
-
causing anxiety or worry
Synonym Usage
See heavy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of weighty
Explanation
Weighty things are either very heavy or extremely important and worrisome. Putting your weighty cat on a diet might be a weighty issue that nags at you. If your luggage is too weighty, you'll have to pay an extra fee at the airport. And if you've got a mind full of weighty problems, you won't be able to fall asleep on your long flight. Sometimes this adjective is also used to mean "influential," like the weighty influence your SAT scores might have on your chances of being accepted at a competitive college.
Vocabulary lists containing weighty
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.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is the headline speaker at Asia's premier defence summit opening Friday, but China's top officials aren't expected despite weighty questions like Taiwan and the war in Iran.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
"The right balance must be struck between individual rights and interests and the weighty public interests of defending freedom and security," it says.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Renting first provides an opportunity to get reliable referrals and gain a better understanding of how the system works before making such a weighty decision.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026
That’s what makes “One Battle” far less weighty than critics and supporters alike have characterized it as being.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026
Anyway, probably no one is thinking about an appropriately weighty yet catchy phrase to call our quagmire right now.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
