serene

¹se·rene

adj \sə-ˈrēn\

Definition of SERENE

1

a : clear and free of storms or unpleasant change <serene skies> b : shining bright and steady <the moon, serene in glory — Alexander Pope>

2

: august —used as part of a title <His Serene Highness>

3

: marked by or suggestive of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude <a serene smile>

— se·rene·ly adverb

— se·rene·ness \-ˈrēn-nəs\ noun

Examples of SERENE

1. <a serene woman who was everyone's source of support>
2. Between the two Azorean blue belfries of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church, a serene statue of the Madonna gazes out at the harbor, cradling a small boat in her arm. —Anita Diamant, National Geographic Traveler, September 2005
3. And Breeders' Cup day was anything but serene. The weather was … cold and often gray, with a 20-mile-an-hour headwind scouring the backstretch. —Lorna Lentini, New York Times, 14 July 2002
4. For Ben and me, in Omaha in 1961, our lives were untroubled and serene. After six years of marriage, we seemed to have reached the happy ending to the national American Dream. —Lois Mark Stalvey, The Education of a WASP, (1989) 1998

Origin of SERENE

Middle English, from Latin serenus clear, cloudless, untroubled

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to SERENE

Synonyms: arcadian, calm, hushed, peaceful, placid, restful, quiet, still, stilly, tranquil

Antonyms: boisterous, clamorous, clattery, deafening, loud, noisy, raucous, rip-roaring, roistering, romping, rowdy, tumultuous, unquiet, uproarious, woolly (also wooly)

Related Words: noiseless, silent, soundless; mute, speechless, wordless; dead, motionless, quiescent; muffled, muted, quieted; dull, gentle, low, soft; ultraquiet

Near Antonyms: crazy, tempestuous, wild; blaring, blasting, booming, earsplitting, piercing, roaring, thundering, thunderous

see all synonyms and antonyms

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See Synonym Discussion at calm

Rhymes with SERENE

Andine, arene, baleen, beguine, Benin, benzene, benzine, Bernstein, between, black bean, boreen, bovine, broad bean, buckbean, caffeine, canteen, carbine, careen, chlorine, chopine, chorine, citrine, codeine, colleen, convene, cotquean, cuisine, dasheen, dauphine, demean, demesne, dry-clean, dudeen, eighteen, Essene, e-zine, fanzine, fascine, fifteen, flavine, fluorine, fourteen, gamine, gangrene, glassine, gyrene, Hellene, hoatzin, horsebean, houseclean, khamsin, Ladin, lateen, latrine, Lublin, machine, malines, marine, moline, moreen, morphine, nankeen, naphthene, Nicene, nineteen, nongreen, obscene, offscreen, on-screen, patine, piscine, poteen, praline, preteen, pristine, propine, Rabin, ratteen, ravine, red bean, routine, saline, saltine, Salween, sardine, sateen, scalene, shagreen, shebeen, siren, Sistine, sixteen, Slovene, snap bean, soybean, spalpeen, string bean, strychnine, subteen, sunscreen, Szczecin, tacrine, takin, taurine, terrene, terrine, thirteen, Tolkien, tontine, tureen, umpteen, unclean, undine, unseen, vaccine, vitrine, wax bean, white bean, windscreen, yestreen, Yibin, zechin