mikilvægt

Mikilvægt is an Icelandic adjective meaning important or of great significance. It is used to describe things that have substantial relevance, priority, or impact. The term is common in formal and academic Icelandic, including media, government documents, and educational materials, where it signals that a matter requires attention or action.

The word is built from mikill, meaning great, and vægt, meaning weight, conveying the sense of weightiness or importance. In this sense, mikilvægt resembles the English phrase “of great weight.” It is used similarly to English “important” or “significant” across various domains, from policy to research.

In usage, mikilvægt inflects like other Icelandic adjectives to agree with the noun’s gender and definiteness. The neuter singular form is mikilvægt, while other forms vary to match the noun. A common collocation is mikilvægt verkefni, meaning “an important task.” It can also appear predicatively in phrases like Mikilvægt er að ... (It is important to ...), which is a frequent construction in formal Icelandic writing and speeches.

Limitations: While broadly equivalent to “important,” mikilvægt carries a formal register and is more likely to appear in written or official contexts than in casual speech. See also discussions of importance or weight in Icelandic language and grammar resources for precise inflection tables.