To the President, protecting our nation's security is of paramount importance — it's at the very top of his to-do list.

Pronunciation: / 'pærəmaʊnt/
English description: having superior power and influence
Synonyms: predominant
Chinese Translation: 首要的(shou3 yao4 de)
Spanish Translation: primordial
ORIGIN: Paramount goes way beyond "important." It's absolutely critical. Something that is of paramount importance has a great urgency to it. Getting your oil changed is important, but making sure your car's brakes are working before you drive down a steep, icy slope is absolutely paramount.

EXAMPLE SENTENCE:

With an act of his stature, who many had presumed to have quietly retired, keeping it a secret was paramount.
"There will be inevitable additional pressure on the system and the paramount concern of magistrates is for accessible justice to be protected," he said.

*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary