earnest

²ear·nest

adj \ˈər-nəst\

Definition of EARNEST

1

: characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind

2

: grave, important

— ear·nest·ly adverb

— ear·nest·ness \-nəs(t)-nəs\ noun

Examples of EARNEST

1. an earnest plea for help
2. <I'll accept only an earnest apology from you.>
3. Barnum's antics provoked tongue-in-cheek reporting and nods and winks in the newspapers, but no earnest cries of humbug. The artful deceiver turned fraud into family fun. —Jackson Lears, New Republic, 12 Nov. 2001
4. Students of all ages were forced to watch these earnest but bizarre short films, which apprised them of such things as the folly of playing on steep precipices overlooking the ocean, the need to minimize one's square-dancing during the early days of the menstrual cycle, the inadvisability of shooting heroin before an important track meet and the necessity of placing the fork to the left of the plate. —Joe Queenan, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2000
5. … a Prussian émigré who became a middle-class English gentleman; an angry agitator who spent much of his adult life in the scholarly silence of the British Museum Reading Room; a gregarious and convivial host who fell out with almost all his friends; a devoted family man who impregnated his housemaid; and a deeply earnest philosopher who loved drink, cigars and jokes. —Francis Wheen, The Nation, 10 July 2000
6. … a bland expression on my face, looking more innocent than an innocent person has any business looking, I imagined that the sales-women who sometimes glanced over at me saw an earnest young shopper instead of a transparent little klepto. —Tobias Wolff, Forbes, 20 Mar. 1989

Origin of EARNEST

(see ¹earnest)

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to EARNEST

Synonyms: serious, grave, humorless, no-nonsense, po-faced [British], sedate, severe, sober, sobersided, solemn, staid, uncomic, unsmiling, weighty

Antonyms: facetious, flip, flippant, humorous, jesting, jocular, joking, kittenish, ludic, playful

Related Words: harsh, stern, strict; businesslike, professional; dignified, distinguished, elevated, serious-minded; gloomy, grim

Near Antonyms: antic, comic, comical, droll, farcical, funny, hilarious, hysterical (also hysteric), laughable, light, light-headed, ludicrous, ridiculous, riotous, risible, screaming, sidesplitting, uproarious; featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, goofy, harebrained, lighthearted, puerile, scatterbrained; absurd, asinine, balmy, brainless, cockeyed, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dotty, fatuous, foolish, half-witted, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany

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See Synonym Discussion at serious