importantly
- 1Used to signal that a statement is important.
The new drug lowers blood pressure and, importantly, has few side effects.
Importantly, the study followed patients for ten years rather than a few months.
Similarcrucially, significantly, notably
Note
A sentence adverb comments on the whole statement rather than on a verb, so this one usually opens the sentence or sits between commas: Importantly, the study followed patients for ten years. It often ranks a point above the ones before it as more importantly or most importantly, telling the reader that what follows matters most.
- 2In an important way, or with an air of importance.
Diet and sleep both contribute importantly to a child's growth.
He strode importantly into the meeting, phone pressed to his ear.
Similarsignificantly, substantially, pompously
Note
Here the adverb attaches to a verb or adjective, with no comma, and says how something is done: contribute importantly, stride importantly. The air-of-importance use can be gently mocking, as when Ian Frazier, writing in Mother Jones in 2001, finds the person on a cell phone importantly busy. Position is what separates it from the sentence adverb.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from important + the adverb-forming suffix -ly.