unimportant

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Not worth caring about, because it makes little or no difference.

   Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: an unimportant detail; it is unimportant.

   Patterns

   • unimportant to someone
   • unimportant for something

   The color of the folder is unimportant.

   He dismissed the mistake as unimportant.

   Those details are unimportant to the investigation.

2. 2adjectivecomparable

   Having a low position, with little influence or power.

   Grammar: Used about people or roles: an unimportant official.

   Patterns

   • an unimportant person

   She was only an unimportant clerk in the large firm.

   He felt unimportant at the big meeting.

   The village was an unimportant stop on the railway line.

Word forms

Common combinations

relatively unimportant

The cost is relatively unimportant to her.

seemingly unimportant

A seemingly unimportant detail solved the case.

completely unimportant

Your age is completely unimportant.

unimportant detail

She skipped the unimportant detail in her talk.

feel unimportant

Nobody should feel unimportant at school.

Synonyms and how they differ

insignificant

Insignificant is more formal and stresses being too small to matter.

trivial

Trivial suggests something is silly or petty, adding a little scorn.

minor

Minor says something is smaller than other things of its kind, but not that it does not matter.

irrelevant

Irrelevant means unconnected to the topic, while unimportant means it does not matter much.

Opposites

Word family

important adjective

having great value or effect

importance noun

the quality of mattering

importantly adverb

in a way that matters

unimportance noun

the state of being unimportant

Commonly confused: unimportant or irrelevant?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “unimportant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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