in earnest

Speech parts

1. in earnest - Adjective

2. in earnest - Adverb

in a serious manner

Source: WordNet

ernest earnestly seriously zealously

comic playful joking tongue-in-cheek artfully laughable

Show all antonyms

We are always on stage, even when we are stabbed in earnest at the end. Georg Büchner

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest. Samuel Johnson

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest. Henry David Thoreau

When one dog barks for nothing, all other dogs bark in earnest. Japanese Proverb

Said in sport, meant in earnest. German Proverb

We knock in jest, and it is opened in earnest. German Proverb

in each place in each year in earlier times in easy street in ecstasies in effect