import

import — verb

1. to buy products or goods that come from another country and bring them into your

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to buy products or goods that come from another country and bring them into your country, usually to sell them

Example

Japan imports most of its oil from countries in the Middle East.

import + from + [country/region]

Cheese that is imported from France often costs more than the locally made kind.

Common collocations
  • import goods
  • import food
  • import oil
  • import from [country]
  • imported products
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • export

    to send goods out of your country to other countries

Grammar Patterns

import + noun phrase + from + [country/place]

be imported + from + [country/place]

Common Mistakes

We import cars to Japan.
We export cars to Japan.
Import means to bring goods into your country; export means to send goods out.

2. to bring a custom, idea, fashion, or way of doing things from one country or cul

2.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to bring a custom, idea, fashion, or way of doing things from one country or culture into another, where it was not common before

Example

The custom of drinking afternoon tea was imported from Britain into many former colonies.

passive: be imported from… into…

Heloísa's grandfather imported his traditional cooking methods when he moved to Brazil.

Common collocations
  • import customs
  • import traditions
  • import ideas
  • import fashions
  • import practices
Synonyms
  • introduce

    more general, does not emphasise the foreign origin as strongly

  • bring over

    informal, common in conversation

Antonyms
  • export

    to send practices or ideas out of one culture to others

Grammar Patterns

import + noun phrase + from + [place] + into + [place]

be imported from + [country/culture] + into + [country/culture]

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1 (IMPORT GOODS): sense 1 is limited to buying and selling physical products for trade; sense 2 extends to ideas, traditions, practices, and customs that are brought into a culture. Commonly used in the passive voice.

Common Mistakes

The school imported books from Finland.' (when talking about teaching methods).
The school imported teaching methods from Finland.
Use import for ideas and practices; for physical objects prefer sense 1.

3. to load or transfer data from one computer system, program, or file into a diffe

3.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to load or transfer data from one computer system, program, or file into a different one so that it can be read or used there

Example

Quan imported the photos from his camera into the editing software on his laptop.

import + [data] + from + [device] + into + [program]

The program can import data from a spreadsheet and turn it into a chart.

Common collocations
  • import data
  • import files
  • import photos
  • import contacts
  • import from [program]
Synonyms
  • load

    more general, used for opening files

  • transfer

    emphasises movement between locations

  • bring in

    informal alternative in computing

Antonyms
  • export

    the opposite direction — to send data out of a program or system

Grammar Patterns

import + noun phrase + from + [device/program] + into/to + [device/program]

Common Mistakes

I imported a song from the internet.
I downloaded a song from the internet.
Import means moving data between your own files or systems; getting something from the web is downloading.

4. to carry a particular meaning or to suggest something beyond the surface level;

4.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to carry a particular meaning or to suggest something beyond the surface level; to imply or indicate

Example

The ambassador's careful words imported a warning that the talks could fail.

formal: subject + import + that-clause

Christopher's silence did not import agreement; he was still weighing the arguments.

Common collocations
  • import a warning
  • import meaning
  • import trouble
Synonyms
  • signify

    more widely used, overlapping meaning

  • imply

    focuses on indirect suggestion

  • indicate

    more neutral and common

  • convey

    emphasises communication of a message

Grammar Patterns

[abstract noun] + import + [abstract noun]

[abstract noun] + import + that-clause

Usage Note

Restricted to formal, literary, or rhetorical contexts. Does not occur in everyday conversation. The subject is typically an abstract noun (silence, tone, words, change, news).

Common Mistakes

What does this word import?' (in casual speech).
What does this word mean?
The formal 'import' sense sounds old-fashioned or overly literary in everyday English.

import — noun

Word family

  • imports
    noun pluralB2
  • importation
    nounB2
  • importer
    nounB2
  • importable
    adjectiveC1
  • export
    verbB1
  • export
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Import is the standard term in trade and economics: it always involves crossing a national border and implies a commercial transaction. Bring in is more informal and general — you can bring in goods from another region within the same country (e.g., 'bring in oranges from Florida'), which import does not allow. Buy from abroad focuses purely on the purchase side and does not emphasise the transportation or customs process. Source internationally is used in business contexts for the supply-chain strategy of finding suppliers worldwide. For example: 'Japan imports most of its oil' (standard trade usage) vs. 'The store buys its cheese from abroad' (customer-side perspective) vs. 'The company sources its components internationally' (formal business language).

import ↗bring in ↗buy from abroadsource internationally

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • import and export
  • import from abroad
  • ban on imports
  • tax on imports

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Comes from Latin importare, a combination of in- ('in, into') and portare ('to carry'). It originally meant simply 'to carry in, bring in.' By the 1500s it was being used for bringing goods into a country for trade. The more abstract sense of 'importance or meaning' developed because what is 'carried in' to a situation has weight and consequence.