Standard Lemma guide

meaningful

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fl̩/
  • UK: [ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fl̩]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, US: /ˈmi.nɪŋ.fl̩/
  • Canada, US: [ˈmi.nɪŋ.fl̩]
  • Australian: /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fʊl/
  • Australian: [ˈmɪi.nɪŋ.fl̩]
  • CMU ARPABET: M IY1 N IH0 NG F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having meaning, significant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • I think we made a meaningful contribution to this project today.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Full of implication; heavy with unstated meaning.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • "So you enjoyed yourself, did you," she said, with a meaningful smile.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

having a meaning or purpose

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a meaningful explanation
  • a meaningful discussion
  • a meaningful pause

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: meaningless

History

Etymology

From meaning + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: смислен (smislen) — having meaning, significant
  • Bulgarian: съдържателен (sǎdǎržatelen) — having meaning, significant
  • Catalan: significatiu — having meaning, significant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有意義 /有意义 (yǒu yìyì) — having meaning, significant
  • Czech: smysluplný — having meaning, significant
  • Dutch: zinvol — having meaning, significant
  • Esperanto: senchava — having meaning, significant
  • Esperanto: signifa — having meaning, significant
  • Finnish: merkittävä — having meaning, significant
  • Finnish: merkityksellinen — having meaning, significant
  • French: significatif — having meaning, significant
  • French: qui a du sens — having meaning, significant
  • Galician: significativo — having meaning, significant
  • German: bedeutend — having meaning, significant
  • German: bedeutungsvoll — having meaning, significant
  • German: sinnhaft — having meaning, significant
  • Hindi: सार्थक (sārthak) — having meaning, significant
  • Hindi: अर्थपूर्ण (arthapūrṇ) — having meaning, significant
  • Hungarian: kifejező — having meaning, significant
  • Indonesian: berarti — having meaning, significant
  • Interlingua: significante — having meaning, significant
  • Italian: significativo — having meaning, significant
  • Italian: sensato — having meaning, significant
  • Italian: efficace — having meaning, significant
  • Italian: costruttivo — having meaning, significant
  • Japanese: 有意義な (yūigi-na) — having meaning, significant
  • Korean: 유의미(有意味)하다 (yuuimihada) — having meaning, significant
  • Latvian: jēdzīgs — having meaning, significant
  • Latvian: nozīmīgs — having meaning, significant
  • Lithuanian: prasmingas — having meaning, significant
  • Macedonian: зна́чаен (znáčaen) — having meaning, significant
  • Māori: whaitikanga — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: meningsfull — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: meiningsfull — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: meningsfylt — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: meiningsfylt — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: meiningsfull — having meaning, significant
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: meiningsfylt — having meaning, significant
  • Polish: znaczący — having meaning, significant
  • Polish: znaczny — having meaning, significant
  • Portuguese: significativo — having meaning, significant
  • Romanian: semnificativ — having meaning, significant
  • Russian: зна́чимый (znáčimyj) — having meaning, significant
  • Serbo-Croatian: smislen — having meaning, significant
  • Spanish: significativo — having meaning, significant
  • Swedish: meningsfull — having meaning, significant
  • Swedish: betydelsefull — having meaning, significant
  • Telugu: అర్థవంతమైన (arthavantamaina) — having meaning, significant
  • Turkish: anlamlı — having meaning, significant
  • Turkish: manalı — having meaning, significant
  • Turkish: manidar — having meaning, significant
  • Ottoman Turkish: معنیدار (manidar) — having meaning, significant
  • Ukrainian: значний (značnyj) — having meaning, significant
  • Ukrainian: значущий (značuščyj) — having meaning, significant
  • Vietnamese: có ý nghĩa — having meaning, significant
Real reading context

meaningful in complete knowledge articles