important

An exceptionally momentous, significant, or consequential moment, situation, or event in one's life. There is no milestone in your life that will ever compare with the birth of your child. I knew even then that that conversation would prove to an important milestone in my life. Crawling is such an important milestone in your baby's life—and yours too. Hope you guys babyproofed the house!

To have more important or more interesting things to do or attend to. It's really not worth my time. I have bigger fish to fry! I want Chris to help me with this project, but he claims he has bigger fish to fry right now. Ignore the phone—we have bigger fish to fry with half of the staff locked out of the department!

To have more significant or more interesting things to do or attend to. It's really not worth my time. I have more important fish to fry. I want Chris to help me with this project, but he claims he has more important fish to fry right now. Ignore the phone—we have more important to fry with half of the staff locked out of the department!

cliché A stock expression used by an automated voice service when a customer on the phone has been put on hold. Often used humorously or satirically. Please continue to hold. Your call is important to us. A sales representative will be with you as soon as possible. A: "God, the insurance company's customer service is so useless." B: "I know, right? Your whole house could have been blown over in a storm, and they would just be like, 'Your call is important to us.'"

Fig. to have other things to do; to have more important things to do. I can't take time for your problem. I have other fish to fry. I won't waste time on your question. I have bigger fish to fry.

a very important event or point in one's life. (From the [former] stone markers at the side of a road showing the distance to or from a place.) Joan's wedding was a milestone in her mother's life. The birth of a child is a milestone in every parent's life.

One of the frequent maddening phrases one hears over the phone when one is put on hold and is asked to wait “for the next available agent/operator/representative.” It is often augmented with “We thank you for your patience,” a quality that the person on hold is generally running out of. It doesn’t seem to matter whether the call concerns an order, complaint, or a question; allegedly all calls are equally important. These usages date from the late 1900s, when waiting for calls to be put through became a kind of art form. Laura Penny used it as the title of her 2005 book, Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth about Bullshit.