more important than anything else: Everybody agrees that education is the paramount issue. (Definition of paramount from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) Examples of paramount paramount My concern is that youths' well-being be paramount and that their rights come first.

more important than anything else: There are many priorities, but reducing the budget deficit is paramount/is of paramount importance.

Of paramount concern is the need to address shortfalls in teacher preparation and the growing gap between that preparation and the changing world of practice. From the Cambridge English Corpus The issues of privacy and trust are of paramount concern if pervasive computing applications are to become popular outside the research laboratory.

: superior to all others : supreme a matter of paramount importance Unemployment was the paramount issue in the election.