Unimportant

How to spell unimportant

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce unimportant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unimportant mean?

1. adjectiveLacking significance, value, or influence; not mattering much.

Unimportant in a sentence

• The meeting covered a few unimportant details before the main agenda.

• She dismissed the typo as unimportant and sent the report anyway.

Where does unimportant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on 'important', which reached English through medieval Latin and Old French. The core is the Latin verb importare, literally 'to carry in' or 'to bring in', formed from in- 'into' and portare 'to carry'. Over time the idea of something being 'brought in' shifted to mean something that 'carries weight' or matters, so important came to describe what is significant or consequential. The negative prefix un-, a thoroughly native English element meaning 'not', was simply attached to give the opposite sense. The portare root is the same one that gives us 'porter', 'transport', and 'export', all of which still carry the idea of carrying.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• import (from Latin importare: to be of consequence)
• -ant (adjective suffix)