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What's the proper adjective to describe something that should not be ignored? My intuition is that it should be "not ignorable", but my chrome spell checker doesn't think that is a correct word, and when I looked it up, I found it is only "Austral, informal". Hence the question. Thanks.

Note,

  • I want to say "not ignorable", instead of something like "significant" or alike.
  • I also tried "neglectable", but my chrome spell checker doesn't think it is a correct word either. And besides, I think the meaning is slightly off as well.

Supplement:

For the context of the question -- this is meant for a business environment, when delivering some minor negative news. I want to be polite and respectful of my audience, but make them aware of something - to call their attention to it.

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  • In many contexts, imperative might work. Or exigent, compulsory, indispensable, unavoidable, pressing, urgent, etc. There are many ways of expressing the fact that something must be addressed, but offhand I don't think there are any particularly idiomatic ways of expressing that concept in "negating" terms based on NOT + IGNORE.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 15:17
  • @FumbleFingers, Thanks. The exact idea that I want to convey is, "should not be easily brushed away", i.e., not to the "must be addressed" stage. Thus, I'm trying to avoid words like significant, or imperative (which means "of vital importance; crucial" according to google). Thanks anyway.
    – xpt
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 15:24
  • How about obligatory?
    – Andrew
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 16:17
  • I'm deleting my comments above because they won't be helpful to readers, especially after I edit your question a bit. I'll try to edit it in parts so I can explain my reasoning better. And I may also answer, if I have something helpful, although, as you point out, this thread is quite old. I'm just now learning how to participate in forums like these, and I was just clicking on whatever the site showed me. :)
    – Justin Stafford
    Commented May 23, 2019 at 11:55
  • Thanks for editing @JustinStafford, I've deleted mine as well.
    – xpt
    Commented May 23, 2019 at 13:39

5 Answers 5

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The proper word is "ignorable":

You may be confusing the Australian usage of ignore as a noun, which is non-standard, with the completely acceptable, regular formation of an adjective from a verb by appending the suffix "-able".

Example: "... certain types of response error are not ignorable..." https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FS-x3tPdXeMC&pg=PA229&dq=%22not+ignorable%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxmJS_8vbPAhXJL8AKHfKMBPwQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22not%20ignorable%22&f=false

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Something that can be ignored is negligible. The converse, something that cannot be ignored, can be described as non-negligible, especially in a technical or mathematical context.

Some examples of this usage here, here (pdf), and here.

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Dismissible is a word. There are not many contexts where "ignore" could not be replaced with "dismiss". Therefore "not dismissible" might be useful.

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    Sounds good, but I'll wait for several days for "experts" to vote, before I made my final pick. Thanks a lot though.
    – xpt
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 15:54
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Blatant: /ˈbleɪt(ə)nt/ adjective: blatant (of bad behaviour) done openly and unashamedly. "blatant lies" synonyms: flagrant, glaring, obvious, undisguised, unconcealed, overt, open, transparent, patent, evident, manifest, palpable, unmistakable;

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  • In order to choose the best term, we really need more context, in other words, the actual sentence or paragraph where the term appears; otherwise, any suggestions will be shots in the dark.
    – acme_54
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 16:42
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You might achieve the meaning you need without negation:

Notable, interesting, mentionable, considerable, significant, important

Also you might use an adverb to modify the verb in your news:

Notably, we are almost out of paper towels (Or Interestingly, Significantly, Remarkably, and others)

The verb is "are" These have a variety of meanings.

But some of these other ways of getting the meaning across are very common:

You can't ignore the fact that X...

or It is significant that X.../It is important to note that X... / Please note that / I want to call your attention to the fact that / Remember that / You mustn't forget that / Don't forget that/ Keep in mind that...

I tend to want to include all of those that 's, but sometimes it sounds clear enough without them. Some of those use negation, and maybe that is the speech pattern you are trying to pinpoint.

Maybe you are avoiding those sorts of phrases because you technically are demanding something of the audience - telling them what to do. But very often this is okay, and it would be a good thing to try to understand when it is okay. One important example is when the audience is more than a few people, and the speaker has authority.

This nuance can cause the intended meaning of sentences to be very different from literal interpretations, and as usual we use inflection and context to determine meaning

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  • Thanks for the answer Jstin. Please bear in mind that I did meant that, "don't ignore it" still sound too demanding for what I want to express (see my original Supplement text which was removed now). It's good to know the general way of expressing it, but I do want the specific, toned-down, way of saying it. Thanks anyway.
    – xpt
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 2:18
  • I think I should steer you in the direction of "important", then. You might say to a cook, "The food you prepare is all delicious, but it is important to cook quickly, too." This says that quality is more important than speed, but that speed still matters. Also, you could soften things further by starting with "I think...", or otherwise communicating that your whole statement is just your own opinion. Likewise, if you "demand" that someone be mindful, you aren't demanding too much. Just asking them to keep something in mind is often polite enough.
    – Justin Stafford
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 3:41

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