serious

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adjective

Definition of SERIOUS

1

not joking or playful in mood or manner <I'm serious when I say that no one should be walking in that neighborhood at night>

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

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

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

2

having a matter of importance as its topic <a very serious film that dealt with the aftermath of the Gulf War>

Synonyms grave, heavy, weighty

Related Words big, consequential, eventful, important, major, material, meaningful, momentous, portentous, significant, solid, substantial

Near Antonyms frivolous, insignificant, lite, little, Mickey Mouse, minor, silly, slight, small, trivial, unimportant

Antonyms light, unserious

3

involving potential loss or injury <a serious accident>

Synonyms grave, grievous, hazardous, jeopardizing, menacing, parlous, perilous, risky, serious, threatening, unhealthy, unsafe, venturesome

Related Words dicey, insecure, precarious, treacherous, uncertain; ultrahazardous; chance, haphazard, random; distressing, sickening, unpleasant; ugly, wicked; adverse, bad, baleful, baneful, deleterious, detrimental, evil, harmful, hurtful, ill, inimical, injurious, malignant, nasty, noxious, pernicious, pestilent; deadly, deathly, destructive, dire, fatal, fateful, fell, killer, lethal, mortal, murderous

Near Antonyms advantageous, beneficial, good; ultrasafe

Antonyms harmless, innocent, innocuous, nonhazardous, nonthreatening, safe, unthreatening