as in intentness
a mental state free of jesting or trifling
practiced the art of acting with great earnestness
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Recent Examples of earnestness
For the Television Academy to recognize Hiller’s role in this show seems like a vote not just for a moving and intuitive performance, but also for earnestness.
—
Paula Mejía, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
The earnestness with which chef-couple Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu approach their vision makes Sun Moon Studio feel like a collaborative culinary experiment, a team project you’ve been invited to join in on.
—The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
The conceit is inherently crowdpleasing — a man stumbling into strangers’ lives and finding unexpected connection — but Hikari steers it with earnestness, elevating it beyond sentimental comedy.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 7 Sep. 2025
His earnestness and enthusiasm were endearing.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Sep. 2025
The earnestness with which they are spoken is not redemptive.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Paula Mejía, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
The earnestness with which chef-couple Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu approach their vision makes Sun Moon Studio feel like a collaborative culinary experiment, a team project you’ve been invited to join in on.
—The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
The conceit is inherently crowdpleasing — a man stumbling into strangers’ lives and finding unexpected connection — but Hikari steers it with earnestness, elevating it beyond sentimental comedy.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 7 Sep. 2025
His earnestness and enthusiasm were endearing.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Sep. 2025
The earnestness with which they are spoken is not redemptive.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for earnestness
Noun
-
The crackdown may only be starting in earnest.—
Juanita Goebertus,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Aug. 2025
-
Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid project started in earnest with a 1-0 home win against Osasuna on Tuesday.—
Mario Cortegana,
New York Times,
21 Aug. 2025
Noun
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And hopefully, this early public investment will pay off big time as private companies find many commercial uses for low Earth orbit, such as zero-gravity hotels for space tourism or mini-factories for producing specialty materials.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
17 Sep. 2025
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In this case, the new, smaller black hole that formed from the collision shot through space at more than 31 miles per second – fast enough to escape its host galaxy and the surrounding globular cluster of stars bound together by gravity.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Slater has met Bersten’s family Bersten revealed the seriousness of his relationship with Slater in a July 2025 Instagram post.—
Alyssa Davis,
PEOPLE,
17 Sep. 2025
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If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.—
Beth Mole,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Earnestness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/earnestness. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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