Insignificant

How to spell insignificant

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce insignificant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does insignificant mean?

1. adjectiveToo small or unimportant to be worth considering.

Insignificant in a sentence

• The repair cost was so insignificant that nobody bothered to claim it.

• A single late payment seemed insignificant next to the size of the whole loan.

Where does insignificant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the Latin significare, meaning 'to make a sign' or 'to indicate', which joined signum 'a mark, token, or sign' with facere 'to make or do'. From significare came significant, describing something that makes a sign and therefore carries meaning or importance. English took the negative form by adding the Latin prefix in-, meaning 'not', so the whole word literally says 'not making a sign' and, by extension, 'too small to matter'. The term settled into English in the late 1600s as the opposite of significant. The shared signum root is also why we have 'signal', 'signature', and 'design', and remembering that buried 'sign' helps explain the spelling, since the g is silent there but pronounced once the -ificant ending follows.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• sign (mark, token)
• -i- (connective)
• fic (from facere: to make)
• -ant (adjective suffix)