sign if1cance, sign if1cancy

[Fr. sig nificance, from Lat. significant i a, from sign if i cans =signifying, significant (q. v.); Sp. & Ital. sign if i canza. 1. The quality or state of being significant; meaning, import; that which is intended to be expre ed. "If he declares he intends it for the honor of another, he takes away by his words the significance of his action." -Stilling fleet . 2. The real import of anything, as opposed to that which appears; the internal and true sense, as distinguished from the external and partial. 3. Expre ivene , impre ivene , force; the power or quality of impre ing the mind. "As far as this duty will admit of privacy, our Savior hath enjoined it in terms of particular significancy and force."- Atterbury . *4. Importance, moment, consequence. "The third commandment would have been of very small significancy under the Gospel."- Secker : Sermons, vol. ii., ser. 30.