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How to apply !important using .css()?

Submitted by: @import:stackoverflow-api·Mar 10, 2026·

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howusingcssimportantapply

Problem

I am having trouble applying a style that is !important. I’ve tried:

$("#elem").css("width", "100px !important");

This does nothing; no width style whatsoever is applied. Is there a jQuery-ish way of applying such a style without having to overwrite cssText (which would mean I’d need to parse it first, etc.)?

Edit: I should add that I have a stylesheet with an !important style that I am trying to override with an !important style inline, so using .width() and the like does not work since it gets overridden by my external !important style.

Also, the value that will override the previous value is computed, so I cannot simply create another external style.

Solution

Most of these answers are now outdated, IE7 support is not an issue.

The best way to do this that supports IE11+ and all modern browsers is:

const $elem = $("#elem");
$elem[0].style.setProperty('width', '100px', 'important');

Or if you want, you can create a small jQuery plugin that does this.
This plugin closely matches jQuery's own css() method in the parameters it supports:

/**
 * Sets a CSS style on the selected element(s) with !important priority.
 * This supports camelCased CSS style property names and calling with an object 
 * like the jQuery `css()` method. 
 * Unlike jQuery's css() this does NOT work as a getter.
 * 
 * @param {string|Object} name
 * @param {string|undefined} value
 */   
jQuery.fn.cssImportant = function(name, value) {
  const $this = this;
  const applyStyles = (n, v) => {
    // Convert style name from camelCase to dashed-case.
    const dashedName = n.replace(/(.)([A-Z])(.)/g, (str, m1, upper, m2) => {
      return m1 + "-" + upper.toLowerCase() + m2;
    }); 
    // Loop over each element in the selector and set the styles.
    $this.each(function(){
      this.style.setProperty(dashedName, v, 'important');
    });
  };
  // If called with the first parameter that is an object,
  // Loop over the entries in the object and apply those styles. 
  if(jQuery.isPlainObject(name)){
    for(const [n, v] of Object.entries(name)){
       applyStyles(n, v);
    }
  } else {
    // Otherwise called with style name and value.
    applyStyles(name, value);
  }
  // This is required for making jQuery plugin calls chainable.
  return $this;
};

// Call the new plugin:
$('#elem').cssImportant('height', '100px');

// Call with an object and camelCased style names:
$('#another').cssImportant({backgroundColor: 'salmon', display: 'block'});

// Call on multiple items:
$('.item, #foo, #bar').cssImportant('color', 'red');

Example jsfiddle here.

Code Snippets

const $elem = $("#elem");
$elem[0].style.setProperty('width', '100px', 'important');

/**
 * Sets a CSS style on the selected element(s) with !important priority.
 * This supports camelCased CSS style property names and calling with an object 
 * like the jQuery `css()` method. 
 * Unlike jQuery's css() this does NOT work as a getter.
 * 
 * @param {string|Object<string, string>} name
 * @param {string|undefined} value
 */   
jQuery.fn.cssImportant = function(name, value) {
  const $this = this;
  const applyStyles = (n, v) => {
    // Convert style name from camelCase to dashed-case.
    const dashedName = n.replace(/(.)([A-Z])(.)/g, (str, m1, upper, m2) => {
      return m1 + "-" + upper.toLowerCase() + m2;
    }); 
    // Loop over each element in the selector and set the styles.
    $this.each(function(){
      this.style.setProperty(dashedName, v, 'important');
    });
  };
  // If called with the first parameter that is an object,
  // Loop over the entries in the object and apply those styles. 
  if(jQuery.isPlainObject(name)){
    for(const [n, v] of Object.entries(name)){
       applyStyles(n, v);
    }
  } else {
    // Otherwise called with style name and value.
    applyStyles(name, value);
  }
  // This is required for making jQuery plugin calls chainable.
  return $this;
};

// Call the new plugin:
$('#elem').cssImportant('height', '100px');

// Call with an object and camelCased style names:
$('#another').cssImportant({backgroundColor: 'salmon', display: 'block'});

// Call on multiple items:
$('.item, #foo, #bar').cssImportant('color', 'red');

Context

Stack Overflow Q#2655925, score: 38

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