serious
adjEtymology
From Middle English seryows, from Old French serieux, from Medieval Latin sēriōsus, an extension of Latin sērius (“grave, earnest, serious”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”). Cognate with German schwer (“heavy, difficult, severe”), Old English swǣr (“heavy, grave, grievous”). More at swear, sweer.
Definitions
Without humor or expression of happiness
Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.
- deadly serious
- It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.
Important
Important; weighty; not insignificant.
- This is a serious problem. We'll need our best experts.
Really intending what is said (or planned, etc)
Really intending what is said (or planned, etc); in earnest; not jocular or deceiving.
- After all these years, we're finally getting serious attention.
- He says he wants to buy the team, but is he serious?
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
Committed.
seriously, in a serious manner (most often heard in take or mean serious)
- The only time I walk out on singin' is when there's muckin' about and youse don't take it serious.
The neighborhood
- synonymaustere
- synonymfrightful
- synonymdemure
- synonymserious
- synonymgrave
- synonymearnest
- synonymgrievous
- synonymlack-laughter
- synonymthoughtful
- synonymsad
- synonymsage
- synonymsaturnine
- antonymtriflingantonym(s) of “important, weighty”
- antonymunimportantantonym(s) of “important, weighty”
- antonymjestingantonym(s) of “intending what is said”
- antonymgaudy
- antonymwitty
- neighborimportant
- neighborsullen
- neighborabstinent
- neighborascetic
- neighborascetical
- neighborcalm
- neighborhumorless
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at serious. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at serious. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at serious
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA