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
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.
See Examples For:
Kenneth Branagh, the British actor whose career has been built on weighty roles such as Shakespeare's Henry V, is perhaps an unlikely action hero.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
India's top judges often make news for their rulings or pronunciations on weighty matters of law.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
With a weighty portfolio of cases, Pirro has been working to stabilize her Washington office, which has been depleted by resignations and dismissals since Trump returned to the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Most of the home’s antiques are Spanish and Peruvian, with some French, Chinese and English pieces; one weighty armoire had to be craned in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
I thought about how those weighty biology texts that I had used to press flowers or smooth bent photographs had served other purposes for her.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
A couple of the disputes are a bit weightier than a question of whether someone’s yard goes to here . . . or to here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
She’s only in the movie for about half an hour, and though her character drives the action and ends the movie in spectacular fashion, that wasn’t enough in a category flush with weightier work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
The couple are set to return to the presidential residence, but this time Mutharika's in-tray will be far weightier.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025
“Please Don’t Cry” has a weightier R&B influence than past projects.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
But since coming back here I don’t feel weightier.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
The city's historically lucrative wholesale and retail trade remains one of its weightiest sectors, accounting for almost 25 percent of GDP in the first nine months of 2024.
From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026
For nearly 500 years the Court of Session has considered the thorniest and weightiest matters of the moment.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2023
Opinionpalooza, aka June, aka the end of the Supreme Court term, when the year’s weightiest opinions tend to come out.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2023
Admittedly, the lawsuit — essentially, a dispute among insurers over the bill for all that cracked fiberglass and teak — won’t be the weightiest matter heard in federal court in Seattle.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2023
It is to little purpose to have introduced a system, if the weightiest influence is not given to its firm establishment in the outset.
From St. Nicholas Vol. XIII, September, 1886, No. 11 An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks 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.
