Meanings
plural significant figures
- mathematicsA digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement; that is, excluding any leading zeroes, trailing rounding or placeholder zeroes, and non-zero digits not warranted by the accuracy of a derivation or measurement.
The speed was calculated by dividing 2314 metres by 71 seconds and reported as 32.5915 m/s, but since both the distance and time were measured only to the nearest whole number, there were actually only two significant figures in this result, i.e. 32.
Synonyms: significant digit
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see significant, figure.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement; that is, excluding any leading zeroes, trailing rounding or placeholder zeroes, and non-zero digits not warranted by the accuracy of a derivation or measurement.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany digit of a number that is known with certainty; any digit of a number beginning with the leftmost non-zero digit and ending with the rightmost non-zero digit (or a zero considered to be the exact value)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 有效數字 /有效数字
- 有效數字 /有效数字 (yǒuxiào shùzì)a digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Czech platná číslice
- platná číslicea digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Danish betydende ciffer
- betydende ciffera digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Dutch beduidend cijfer
- beduidend cijfera digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Finnish merkitsevä numero
- merkitsevä numeroa digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
French chiffre significatif
- chiffre significatifa digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
German signifikante Stelle
- signifikante Stellea digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Greek σημαντικό ψηφίο
- σημαντικό ψηφίο (simantikó psifío)a digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Hungarian értékes jegy/számjegy
- értékes jegy/számjegya digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Indonesian angka penting, angka signifikan
- angka pentinga digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
- angka signifikana digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Irish digit shuntasach, figiúr suntasach
- digit shuntasacha digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
- figiúr suntasacha digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Italian cifra significativa
- cifra significativaa digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Japanese 有効数字
- 有効数字 (yūkō sūji)a digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Malay angka bererti
- angka berertia digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Portuguese algarismo significativo
- algarismo significativoa digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Vietnamese chữ số có nghĩa
- chữ số có nghĩaa digit that is meaningful with respect to the precision of a measurement
Cite this entry
significant figure. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/significant%20figure
“significant figure.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/significant%20figure. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “significant figure,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/significant%20figure.
Source: significant figure on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.