earnest

CEFRB2

/ˈɝ.nɪst/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

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In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Serious and sincere, rather than joking.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)

Examples

  • Are you in jest or in earnest?

  • Mingle your joys sometimes with your earnest occupation.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. To be serious with; use in earnest.

  2. Serious, sincere, ingenuous.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.

More examples

In context

  • The rain came down in earnest.

  • 1914, February 13, The Times, Obituary: Canon Augustus Jessopp He wrote well in a forcible, colloquial style, with the air of being tremendously in earnest, and full of knowledge which overflowed his pages, tricked out with somewhat boisterous illustrations.

  • earnest attention

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her blank request for help convinced me she truly needed assistance.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”). Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌽𐌹𐌱𐌰 (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”). The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, se...