✅ Importance refers to what is particularly notable, valuable, or influential (The movie was of great importance to the development of cinema).

✅ Significance refers to what is notable and valuable, but that isn’t immediately recognized (His testimony was of enormous significance to the case).

✅ Importance and significance can be used interchangeably. They both suggest that the thing referred to is particularly special or noteworthy (She was of huge importance to the success of the business).

✅ Significance particularly implies looking back and understanding the importance of something with the benefit of hindsight (The event had significance for the future of politics).

We know you’ll appreciate the importance of these synonyms for significance.

✅ Component refers to a part, usually one of many different parts, that make up something (I made sure I had all the components to build my bike’s new drivetrain).

✅ Constituent refers to an important and necessary element of something (The mechanic described the functions of the engine’s major constituents).

✅ Component suggests one part of many, all of which are important. Constituent refers to an important and necessary part of the whole (There are many components of a good argument; Flour, fat, and eggs are the essential constituents of a cake).

✅ Component and constituent can both refer to a physical part or a non-physical part (Generosity was a component of his character; the constituents of a molecule).

Try writing about your own fundamental constituents with the help of our tool Grammar Coach.

✅ Obstacle refers to something that gets in the way of progress (His dislike for math was an obstacle to his dream of being an astronaut).

✅ Obstruction refers to something that blocks passage or progress completely (The road was closed due to an obstruction).

✅ Obstacle suggests a block that can be circumvented or overcome, whereas obstruction suggests something insurmountable (The lack of funding was an obstruction to scientific discoveries; The horse jumped easily over the obstacle).

✅ Both obstruction and obstacle can be used to refer to any kind of block to literal or figurative progress. However, obstruction more commonly refers to physical blocks to literal progress.

Try describing an obstruction on a road trip with the help of our writing tool Grammar Coach.