Merkityksellisessä

Merkityksellinen is a Finnish adjective meaning meaningful, significant, or relevant. The form merkityksellisessä is the inessive singular, used to describe something located “in a meaningful sense” or “in a meaningful context.” The root is merkitys, meaning meaning or significance, combined with the suffix -llinen, which turns a noun into an adjective indicating the possession of a quality.

Grammatically, merkityksellinen describes the inherent or contextual significance of a noun. In practice, merkityksellisessä is used when the speaker wants to emphasize interpretive or contextual meaning rather than mere practicality. It is common in academic and literary Finnish to convey that something carries importance beyond its literal description, and it can refer to semantic significance, practical relevance, or symbolic value depending on the context. The expression merkityksellinen mielessä or merkityksellisessä mielessä is used to say “in a meaningful sense.”

Usage notes and nuance: merkityksellinen carries a evaluative nuance, suggesting that the subject has weight or importance in interpretation or discourse, unlike synonyms such as tärkeä (important) that may carry a broader or more everyday connotation. It often appears in discussions of analysis, interpretation, and narrative or theoretical framing.

Examples include: "Tämä havainto on merkityksellinen kontekstissa," and "Merkityksellisessä mielessä tutkimus osoittaa uuden näkökulman." Common collocations include merkityksellinen konteksti, merkityksellinen havainto, and merkityksellinen tarina. English translations include significant, meaningful, or relevant, chosen according to context. Related forms include merkityksellisyys (meaningfulness) and merkityksellistyminen (becoming meaningful).