Library / English Dictionary

IMPORT

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country

Synonyms:

import; importation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("import" is a kind of...):

commodity; good; trade good (articles of commerce)

Antonym:

export (commodities (goods or services) sold to a foreign country)

Derivation:

import (bring in from abroad)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having important effects or influence

Example:

that result is of no consequence

Synonyms:

consequence; import; moment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("import" is a kind of...):

significance (the quality of being significant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "import"):

matter ((used with negation) having consequence)

hell to pay (dire consequences)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred

Example:

the expectation was spread both by word and by implication

Synonyms:

implication; import; significance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("import" is a kind of...):

meaning; substance (the idea that is intended)

Derivation:

import (indicate or signify)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The message that is intended or expressed or signified

Example:

the import of his announcement was ambiguous

Synonyms:

import; meaning; significance; signification

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("import" is a kind of...):

content; message; subject matter; substance (what a communication that is about something is about)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "import"):

lexical meaning (the meaning of a content word that depends on the nonlinguistic concepts it is used to express)

grammatical meaning (the meaning of a word that depends on its role in a sentence; varies with inflectional form)

symbolisation; symbolization (the use of symbols to convey meaning)

sense; signified (the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted)

connotation; intension (what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression)

referent (something referred to; the object of a reference)

burden; core; effect; essence; gist (the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work)

intent; purport; spirit (the intended meaning of a communication)

lesson; moral (the significance of a story or event)

nicety; nuance; refinement; shade; subtlety (a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude)

overtone ((usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning or quality)

point (a brief version of the essential meaning of something)

Derivation:

import (indicate or signify)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An imported person brought from a foreign country

Example:

they are descendants of indentured importees

Synonyms:

import; importee

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("import" is a kind of...):

alien; foreigner; noncitizen; outlander (a person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country)

Derivation:

import (bring in from abroad)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Indicate or signify

Example:

I'm afraid this spells trouble!

Synonyms:

import; spell

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "import" is one way to...):

intend; mean (mean or intend to express or convey)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

import (a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred)

import (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Transfer (electronic data) into a database or document

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "import" is one way to...):

transfer (move from one place to another)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

export (transfer (electronic data) out of a database or document in a format that can be used by other programs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bring in from abroad

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "import" is one way to...):

merchandise; trade (engage in the trade of)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "import"):

smuggle (import or export without paying customs duties)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue import the movie

Antonym:

export (sell or transfer abroad)

Derivation:

import (commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country)

import (an imported person brought from a foreign country)

importation (the commercial activity of buying and bringing in goods from a foreign country)

importation (commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country)

importee (an imported person brought from a foreign country)

importer (someone whose business involves importing goods from outside (especially from a foreign country))

importing (the commercial activity of buying and bringing in goods from a foreign country)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Marisa believes that the discovery could help replace Brazil's fertilizer imports.

(New Brazilian fertilizer can boost productivity, Agência BRASIL)

We must sterilise all the imported earth between sunrise and sunset; we shall thus catch the Count at his weakest, and without a refuge to fly to.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I read these words over and over again: I felt that an explanation belonged to them, and was unable fully to penetrate their import.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The listener's proverbial fate was not absolutely hers; she had heard no evil of herself, but she had heard a great deal of very painful import.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

To transfer from a local area to an external or distant area; to move data out of one file or system with the purpose of importing it into another file or system.

(Export, NCI Thesaurus)

Malonyl-CoA in turn is an inhibitor of the import of fatty acids into mitochondria by carnitine palmitoyltransferase I for oxidation and energy production.

(Insulin Resistance Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Another idea is to import volatiles by redirecting comets and asteroids to hit Mars.

(Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology, NASA)

Phosphorylation of ChREBP at ser(196) inactivates nuclear import and phosphorylation at Thr(666) prevents DNA binding by ChREBP.

(ChREBP Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This allele, which encodes nuclear pore complex protein Nup214, plays a role in the regulation of nucleocytoplasmic transport and receptor-mediated nuclear import.

(NUP214 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Within mitochondria, mutant SOD1 may interfere with the anti-apoptotic function of Bcl-2, affect mitochondrial import by interfering with the translocation machinery (TOM/TIM), and generate toxic free radicals (ROS) via aberrant superoxide chemistry.

(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)