Adjective

(en adjective)

Having relevant and crucial value.

:

*

*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.

*1988, (Robert Ferro), Second Son :

*:For this was the most important thing, that when a person felt strongly about an issue in life, it mustn’t be ignored by others; for if it was, everything subsequent to it would turn out badly, even though there should seem to be no direct connection.

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw

, title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.}}

Adjective

(er)

Of people: regal, dignified; worthy of respect.

* 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,

Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered.

Of movement: dignified; deliberate, unhurried.

* 2010 , "An own goal on gay rights", The Economist , 14 Oct 2010:

And much as they welcome his promise to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell”, they are dismayed by the stately pace and bungled tactics of his attempts to do so.

Imposing; grand, impressive.