import Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country
    importation.
  2. noun an imported person brought from a foreign country
    importee.
    • the lead role was played by an import from Sweden
    • they are descendants of indentured importees
  3. noun the message that is intended or expressed or signified
    signification; meaning; significance.
    • what is the meaning of this sentence
    • the significance of a red traffic light
    • the signification of Chinese characters
    • the import of his announcement was ambiguous
  4. noun a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    implication; significance.
    • the significance of his remark became clear only later
    • the expectation was spread both by word and by implication
  5. noun having important effects or influence
    consequence; moment.
    • decisions of great consequence are made by the president himself
    • virtue is of more moment than security
    • that result is of no consequence
  6. verb bring in from abroad
  7. verb transfer (electronic data) into a database or document
  8. verb indicate or signify
    spell.
    • I'm afraid this spells trouble!

WordNet

Im*port" transitive verb
Etymology
L. importare to bring in, to occasion, to cause; pref. im- in + portare to bear. Sense 3 comes through F. importer, from the Latin. See Port demeanor.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Imported; present participle & verbal noun Importing
Definitions
  1. To bring in from abroad; to introduce from without; especially, to bring (wares or merchandise) into a place or country from a foreign country, in the transactions of commerce; -- opposed to export. We import teas from China, coffee from Brasil, etc.
  2. To carry or include, as meaning or intention; to imply; to signify.
    Every petition . . . doth . . . always import a multitude of speakers together. Hooker.
  3. To be of importance or consequence to; to have a bearing on; to concern.
    I have a motion much imports your good. Shak.
    If I endure it, what imports it you? Dryden.
    Syn. -- To denote; mean; sighify; imply; indicate; betoken; interest; concern.
Im*port" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To signify; to purport; to be of moment. "For that . . . importeth to the work." Bacon.
Im"port noun
Definitions
  1. Merchandise imported, or brought into a country from without its boundaries; -- generally in the plural, opposed to exports.
    I take the imports from, and not the exports to, these conquests, as the measure of these advantages which we derived from them. Burke.
  2. That which a word, phrase, or document contains as its signification or intention or interpretation of a word, action, event, and the like.
  3. Importance; weight; consequence.
    Most serious design, and the great import. Shak.

Webster 1913