weighty

English

Alternative forms

• weightie (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈweɪti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪti

Adjective

weighty (comparative weightier, superlative weightiest)

1. Heavy (“having a lot of weight”).
   • 1898, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Confiding Peasant and the Maladroit Bear:

     And so a weighty rock she aimed / With much enthusiasm

   • 2018, Thom Nickels, Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters behind the Walls:

     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.

2. (figurative) Important; serious; not trivial or petty.

   a weighty argument

   • 1853, Solomon Northup, chapter IX, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative of Solomon Northrup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana, London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, →OCLC, page 130:

     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.

3. Rigorous; severe; afflictive.

Derived terms

• weightily
• weightiness

Translations

heavy

• Belarusian: ва́жкі m (vážki)
• Bulgarian: тежък (bg) (težǎk)
• Dutch: zwaarwegend (nl), gewichtig (nl), wichtig (nl)
• Esperanto: pezega
• Georgian: მძიმე (ka) (mʒime), მძიმეწონიანი (mʒimec̣oniani)
• German: wichtig (de)
• Ido: pezoza (io), grava (io)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vektig

  Nynorsk: vektig

• Romanian: greu (ro), care atârnă greu
• Russian: тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj)
• Sanskrit: गुरु (sa) (guru)
• Spanish: pesado (es)

important; serious

• Azerbaijani: tutarlı
• Bulgarian: убедителен (bg) (ubeditelen)
• Danish: tungtvejende c
• Georgian: დამაჯერებელი (damaǯerebeli), მძლავრი (mʒlavri)
• German: schwergewichtig (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vektig, tungtveiende

  Nynorsk: vektig

• Spanish: de peso
• Swedish: tung (sv), stark (sv)

rigorous; severe; afflictive

• Bulgarian: важен (bg) (važen), съществен (bg) (sǎštestven)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 重要 (zh) (zhòngyào)

• Danish: viktig
• French: important (fr)
• Georgian: მნიშვნელოვანი (mnišvnelovani), სერიოზული (seriozuli)
• German: wichtig (de)
• Italian: importante (it)
• Plautdietsch: wichtich
• Romanian: serios (ro), important (ro)
• Spanish: importante (es)
• Swedish: viktig (sv)