significantly

Significantly is an adverb used to indicate that something is notable or has increased to a noticeable extent. In everyday language, it often emphasizes a difference, change, or impact that is more than trivial.

In academic and scientific contexts, the term is closely associated with statistical significance. When a result is described as statistically significant, it means that an observed effect is unlikely to be due to random variation under a specified model or null hypothesis. This is usually assessed with a statistical test and a threshold, commonly a p-value below 0.05, though other thresholds and methods exist. It is important to distinguish statistical significance from practical or clinical significance; a result can be statistically significant without implying a meaningful real-world effect.

Etymology-wise, significantly comes from the Latin significare, meaning “to signify,” via Old French significer. The word is commonly used across science, economics, social sciences, and policy discussions. Typical collocations include significantly higher, significantly different, significantly larger, significantly fewer, and significantly affected.

Cautions on usage note that the term can be overused to assert importance. Readers should examine effect sizes, confidence intervals, and study design to assess the practical importance of findings. In non-technical writing, “significantly” should be used carefully to avoid ambiguity or overstating conclusions.