merkitsevällä

Merkitsevä is a Finnish adjective meaning significant, meaningful, or noteworthy. The form merkitsevällä is the adessive singular of merkitsevä, used when the noun it modifies is in the adessive case or in idiomatic phrases such as merkitsevä tavalla, most often encountered in the set phrase merkitsevä tavalla meaning “in a significant/meaningful way.”

Usage of merkitsevä spans everyday language and specialized contexts. In general usage, it describes importance or relevance beyond the trivial. In scientific and statistical texts, merkitsevä is used to translate concepts like “significant,” as in tilastollisesti merkitsevä (statistically significant). The term is distinct from merkittävä, which more broadly means notable or important, while merkitsevä emphasizes evidence-based significance or meaningful impact.

Grammar and inflection follow Finnish adjective patterns. Merkitsevä declines like other adjectives: merkitsevä (nominal singular), merkitsevän (genitive singular), merkitsevässä (inessive singular), merkitsevällä (adessive singular), merkitseviä (partitive plural), merkitsevien (genitive plural), and so on. A common construction is merkitseviä eroja (significant differences) or merkitsevällä tavalla (in a significant/meaningful way).

Etymology traces merkitsevä to the verb merkitä “to mark” or “to indicate,” with a suffix forming an adjective that conveys signification or importance. Related noun forms include merkitsevyys (significance) and merkitseväisyys in discussing statistical or practical importance. See also tilastollinen merkitsevyys for statistical significance.