earnest

6 definitions • 6 examples

serious and determined, especially too serious and unable to find your own actions funny:

He was a very earnest young man.

completely serious:

These fanatics are in deadly earnest when they say they want to destroy all forms of government.

When something begins in earnest, it has already started but is now being done in a serious and complete way:

The election campaign has begun in earnest.

to be speaking honestly:

I thought he was joking - I didn't realize he was in earnest.

sincere and serious:

She made an earnest attempt to convert me to her point of view.

If something is done in earnest, it is done seriously:

Work on the building began, in earnest, in late spring.