The word 'importance'

[peteryoung]

Webster Dictionary defines 'importance' as 'the quality or state of being important'.
What's unclear to me is what 'quality' is and what 'state' is.
When does the word 'importance' denote a quality and when does it denote a state?
Thanks a lot!

[Mister Micawber]

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Interesting question, Peter-- and you will find the same phraseology with many definitions-- they are words used to try to generally define nouns: states, conditions, qualities, etc. I am not sure that there is much real difference. Lexicographic language is much like legal language-- it tends to be redundant and overlapping, in an attempt to cover all possibilities.

'The importance of a politician determines the respect he inspires in his colleagues' -- a quality, perhaps.

'The importance that the issue of Roe vs Wade has attained in American jurisprudence cannot be underestimated'-- a state?

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[peteryoung]

Great thanks goes to you!:)