importance

How much something matters or affects people or events.

• We understand its importance.
• He stressed the importance of sleep.
• The exact date is of little importance.

How to use it: importance of something/doing something (She explained the importance of washing our hands.); of importance to someone/something (This discovery is of importance to medical research.); attach importance to something (They attach great importance to family meals.)

Similar words: significance, value, consequence

Opposites: unimportance, insignificance

Common phrases: importance of something, great importance, of little importance