nonserious

adjective

non·​se·​ri·​ous ˌnän-ˈsir-ē-əs How to pronounce nonserious (audio)
: not serious
people convicted of nonserious crimes
… she occasionally likes to play around with nonserious painting, exploring color and texture.Nicole D'Amore

Examples of nonserious in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The agency’s telephone and online reporting units, also meant to help address staffing concerns, can take nonserious police reports that don’t require a sworn officer’s response. Darcy Costello, Baltimore Sun, 7 June 2023 To a certain extent, the debate simply shows how tangled our feelings about fashion still are and how entrenched the view of it as a nonserious subject remains — despite the fact that fashion is a key part of pop culture and the rare equivalent of a global language. New York Times, 28 July 2022 Twelve civilians will help staff the Telephone Reporting Unit, which receives nonserious police reports that do not require an officer’s response, restoring civilian positions cut from the 2021 budget, according to city officials. Washington Post, 17 Apr. 2022 Of the 340,522 adverse-event reports, 92.1% were nonserious, 6.6% were serious, and 1.3% were deaths, according to VAERS. Julie Washington, cleveland, 11 Mar. 2022 Bird strikes—even nonserious ones—can be costly for airlines. Benjamin Katz, WSJ, 6 Feb. 2022 Could there be a nonserious reason for all this protein? Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 2 Nov. 2021 This is a police department that made 17,173 arrests in 2018, with 90 percent of them for nonserious and nonviolent charges, according to an analysis by the Vera Institute. Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2021 Some teens have reported myocarditis, or heart inflammation, but those reports have been rare and nonserious. Ruth Serven Smith | Rserven@al.com, al, 7 Oct. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nonserious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1822, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nonserious was in 1822

Dictionary Entries Near nonserious

Cite this Entry

“Nonserious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonserious. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!