Synonyms of earnestness

earnestness

noun

as in intentness

a mental state free of jesting or trifling

practiced the art of acting with great earnestness

Synonyms & Similar Words

• intentness
• earnest
• gravity
• seriousness
• solemnity
• decisiveness
• solemnness
• soberness
• attentiveness
• purposefulness
• graveness
• intensity
• staidness
• sobriety
• deliberation
• resoluteness
• serious-mindedness
• determination
• gravitas
• concentration
• humorlessness
• resolve
• immersion
• firmness
• absorption
• engrossment
• enthrallment

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• levity
• flippancy
• lightness
• frivolity
• lightheartedness
• facetiousness
• frivolousness
• play
• flightiness
• lightness
• superficiality
• shallowness
• unseriousness
• cheerfulness
• dilettantism
• mirth
• glee
• dalliance
• gaiety
• merriment
• high-spiritedness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of earnestness

The trio of city employees flipped through the issue with obligatory earnestness, straining to read in the dark and din of the party. — Literary Hub, 30 Oct. 2026

On and off the court, Miller approaches his job with an earnestness born out of clawing for every minute off the bench. — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026

But the earnestness of their performances, the texture of their hesitation, makes the video far more compelling than any of its deepfake counterparts. — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026

Still, there’s something to the earnestness with which the movie does finally have its daddy issues and its cetacean ones intersect. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026

Elizabeth Strout illustrates a kind man with an endearing earnestness about him who struggles with the fact that the world is not so simple anymore. — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2026

The diaries—particularly in Julian Sachs’s unexpurgated version, which captures Pavese’s alternating earnestness, archness, and pungent vulgarity—pose something of a problem. — Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

She is considered the Canadian equivalent to the Down Under disco queen Kylie Minogue by some, and recalls a young Taylor Swift for her unabashed earnestness. — Jaeden Pinder, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2026

There’s not enough action for genre fans and the narrative’s blend of melodrama and earnestness may turn off highbrow arthouse viewers. — Alissa Simon, Variety, 7 Sep. 2026