Pronunciation Noun
earnest (uncountable)
- Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
- 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.
- c. 1575-a 1586, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
- Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.
- c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III: Act 5, Scene 1
- That high All-Seer which I dallied with
- Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head
- And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
- 1914, February 13, The Times, Obituary: Canon Augustus Jessopp
- Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)
- German: Ernst, Ernsthaftigkeit
- Portuguese: seriedade
- Spanish: seriedad
earnest (earnests, present participle earnesting; past and past participle earnested)
- (transitive) To be serious with; use in earnest.
- 1602, Pastor Fido:
- Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.
- 1602, Pastor Fido:
earnest (comparative earnester, superlative earnestest)
- (said of an action or an utterance) Serious or honest
- (with a positive sense) Focused in the pursuit of an objective; eager to obtain or do.
- earnest prayers
- Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.
- earnest attention.
- (said of a person or a person's character) Possessing or characterised by seriousness.
- an earnest disposition
- Strenuous; diligent.
- earnest efforts
- Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.
- French: ardent
- German: leidenschaftlich, sehnsüchtig
- Italian: voglioso, desideroso, fervente, zelante
- Portuguese: sério
- Russian: ре́вностный
- French: sérieux, grave
- German: ernst, ernsthaft, aufrichtig
- Italian: serio, grave
- Portuguese: sério, sincero
- Russian: серьёзный
- Spanish: serio
earnest (plural earnests)
- A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.
- King James Version, 2 Corinthians 5:5
- Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 365:
- But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.
- King James Version, 2 Corinthians 5:5
- (archaic) second-person singular simple present form of earn
Earnest
Proper noun
- A male given name.
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