# important (significance)

an item that has more meaning and more value than most items

- Computed level: L10 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday  ·  Arena: general

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [meaning](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-meaning.significance), [value](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-value.worth), [items](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-items.object), [mean](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-mean.signify)

**Through:** their higher degree together makes a thing stand out as significant

**Novel properties:**
- relative distinction
- elevated standing
- comparative weight

## Examples
- The Library of Alexandria housed over 400,000 scrolls, making it the most significant collection of knowledge in the ancient Mediterranean. *(institutions)*
- Plutonium-239 is crucial in nuclear weapons because its half-life of 24,100 years allows for sustained chain reactions. *(physics)*
- The Bitcoin blockchain's genesis block, mined by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, holds irreversible historical and cryptographic value. *(computing)*

## Used by
- [major](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-major.importance) (L11)
- [primary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-primary.importance) (L11)

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-important.significance*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-important.significance.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*