Weighty Meaning
/ˈweɪti/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjHaving a lot of weight; heavy.
adjImportant; serious; not trivial or petty.
Sentence Examples
That's a weighty argument.
a weighty argument
The committee discussed several weighty issues during the meeting.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ decision to drop the atomic bomb had extremely huge and long-lasting consequences.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The committee was faced with a ____ decision that would have a major impact on the future of the company today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English weighti, weghti, wighti, equivalent to weight + -y. Cognate with Scots weichty, wechty, wichty, Saterland Frisian wichtich, West Frisian wichtich, Dutch wichtig, gewichtig, German wichtig, Danish vigtig, Swedish viktig. Compare typologically Russian ве́ский (véskij), весо́мый (vesómyj) (< вес (ves)). Also compare the same meaning development from cognate (by borrowing) Polish waga (< ... < Proto-Germanic *wēgō): ważny (whence Russian ва́жный (vážnyj)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And so a weighty rock she aimed / With much enthusiasm"
— 1898, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Confiding Peasant and the Maladroit Bear:
"To fund the purchase, he had to sell a late Renoir, The Judgment of Paris, with its depiction of weighty ladies frolicking in a roseate garden."
— 2018, Thom Nickels, Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters behind the Walls:
"But I have now reached a point in the progress of my narrative, when it becomes necessary to turn away from these light descriptions, to the more grave and weighty matter of the second battle with Master Tibeats, and the flight through the great Pacoudrie Swamp."
— 1853, Solomon Northup, chapter IX, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. […], London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, →OCLC, page 130:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ decision to drop the atomic bomb had extremely huge and long-lasting consequences.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The committee was faced with a ____ decision that would have a major impact on the future of the company today.