unserious

adjective

un·​se·​ri·​ous ˌən-ˈsir-ē-əs How to pronounce unserious (audio)
: not serious
unserious writers
unserious debates
… recognize the difference between serious and unserious warnings.Meg Greenfield
unseriously adverb
talking unseriously
unseriousness noun

Examples of unserious in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Devoting one week a year to public communication on an issue that most people are already worried about is stunningly unserious. Liza Featherstone, The New Republic, 20 Sep. 2023 Meanwhile, things that reliably boost happiness and well-being—community, time in nature, movement, mindfulness, personal growth, and learning—are often seen as unserious pursuits for which only underachievers have time. Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 18 Sep. 2023 During her debut album, she was criticized for being an unserious one-off, a critique young women musicians often receive. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 26 Aug. 2023 In an exclusive music video for the song, behind-the-scenes footage shows the actor undergoing the most unserious transformation of his career while director Greta Gerwig watches along starry-eyed and overwhelmingly proud of her creation. Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 2023 But that does not mean that the charges are unserious. The Editors, National Review, 16 Aug. 2023 Will Hurd is a serious person, and Congress is often an unserious place. Grace Segers, The New Republic, 11 Aug. 2023 A week ago, Leto shared a similarly unserious makeup routine on Instagram, which is the same look that was seen onstage during his band Thirty Seconds to Mars’ practice show for Lollapalooza. Alexis Jones, Peoplemag, 10 Aug. 2023 This is a fundamentally unserious thing to say, but Musk was serious. Brian Merchant, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unserious.' 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

1655, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unserious was in 1655

Dictionary Entries Near unserious

Cite this Entry

“Unserious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unserious. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.

More from Merriam-Webster on unserious

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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