different between important vs foremost

English

Etymology

From Middle English important, from Medieval Latin important-, import?ns.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?p??t?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?p??t?nt/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?m?po(?)?t?nt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?m?po?t?nt/

Adjective

important (comparative more important, superlative most important)

1. Having relevant and crucial value.
   • 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son:

     For this was the most important thing, that when a person felt strongly about an issue in life, it mustn’t be ignored by others; for if it was, everything subsequent to it would turn out badly, even though there should seem to be no direct connection.
2. (obsolete) Pompous; self-important.

Synonyms

• significant
• weighty
• See also Thesaurus:important

Antonyms

• negligible
• ignorable
• petty
• slight
• unimportant

Derived terms

• importantly, importantness, unimportant, VIP

Related terms

• import
• importance

Translations

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /im.po??tant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /im.pur?tan/

Adjective

important (masculine and feminine plural importants)

1. important

Derived terms

• importantment

Related terms

• importància

Further reading

• “important” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “important” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “important” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “important” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.p??.t??/

Adjective

important (feminine singular importante, masculine plural importants, feminine plural importantes)

1. important

2. significant

Derived terms

• importance

Verb

important

1. present participle of importer

Further reading

• “important” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

important

1. third-person plural present active indicative of import?

Occitan

Pronunciation

Adjective

important m (feminine singular importanta, masculine plural importants, feminine plural importantas)

1. important

Related terms

• importància

Romanian

Etymology

From French important.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [im.por?tant]

Adjective

important m or n (feminine singular important?, masculine plural importan?i, feminine and neuter plural importante)

1. important

Declension

Related terms

• importan??

English

Etymology

From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.

Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.

A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore +? -most.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??.m??st/
• Rhymes: -??st

Adjective

foremost (not comparable)

1. first, either in time or in space
2. Most forward; front
3. of a higher rank or position; paramount
4. (nautical) closest to the bow

Translations

Adverb

foremost (not comparable)

1. in front
2. prominently forward
3. especially; particularly
   • 2001, Chantel Laran Sawyer Lumpkin, The Influences of Assets on the Academic Achievement of African American College Students, p. 155:

     As dependent minors the foremost proximal system was family, followed by school and community.

   • 2013, Robert Woods, Evangelical Christians and Popular Culture: Pop Goes the Gospel, p. XXIX:

     Lewis is the twentieth century's foremost popular writer and the most influential public intellectual for evangelicals.

   • 2019, Louise Taylor, Alex Morgan heads USA past England into Women’s World Cup final (in The Guardian, 2 July 2019)[1]

     England head to Nice for Saturday’s third-place playoff after yet more semi-final disappointment but with heads held high having played their part in a wonderful game featuring some particularly harsh luck. Foremost among it was the marginal offside which saw an Ellen White goal disallowed and, later, a penalty miss by Steph Houghton.

Translations